I was a top student in America.

Li Ao's steal and subsequent three-pointer ignited Wyndham's morale.

Morgan Park's coach promptly called a timeout.

After the timeout, the opponent clearly changed their strategy.

Instead of rushing to set up their formation, the opposing point guard used high pick-and-rolls twice to forcefully attack the paint.

Fortunately, Wyndham stabilized the situation thanks to Ty Shore's strong performance in the low post and a brilliant pass from Li Ao.

After several rounds, the score reached 34-31, with Wyndham still holding a three-point lead.

Just when Li Ao thought Morgan Park had given up on that horn-and-horn tactic, he caught a familiar glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye—

The opposing team's two big men had unknowingly moved into the elbow area again, while the point guard was holding the ball at the top of the key.

It's a cow horn again.

Li Ao frowned slightly, immediately noticing something amiss.

This time, the point guard changed the direction of the pass, sending the ball directly to the left elbow area.

Depending on the tactical changes, if the pass is made to the left-side striker for a handoff combination, the final scoring point will definitely be on the flank.

He reflexively turned his head to look at the left wing, but his own defensive position was more than half a field away from there, and it was too late to cover for him.

Fortunately, Jay Chou was on that side.

"Jaylen! Go cover the wing!"

Jaylen was sticking close to his opponent as he retreated to the left when he suddenly heard this loud shout, and his steps instinctively stopped.

Go defend the flanks?

There's not a soul in sight there right now, why would I rush over to avoid empty air?

But Li Ao's miraculous steal and three-pointer was still fresh in his mind. He gritted his teeth, turned around, and sprinted towards the left wing.

At this moment, Morgan Park's hand-to-hand handing was completed.

The shooter who received the ball used a screen to get around from the left elbow area, and as soon as he got to the wing, the ball was passed to him.

But Jay Chou was also standing in front of him.

The shooter in Morgan Park was stunned—damn it, there shouldn't be anyone here!

Jaylen himself didn't understand what was going on, but instinctively reached out to grab the ball, and took advantage of the moment when the opposing shooter was stunned to slap the ball out of his hands.

The ball left his hand and bounced towards the floor.

Jaylen reacted quickly, scooping up the basketball that had bounced to the ground and charging towards the frontcourt with his head down.

Since the Morgan Park players had been pressing all over the right side of the half, the left flank was now wide open.

He strode into the three-point line, took off, and swung the ball high over his head with his right hand, slamming it into the basket.

"Bang—!"

With a dull thud, the basketball hoop shook violently, and even the base trembled sharply.

Jaylen hung on the rim for a moment to cushion the impact before letting go and landing. He then excitedly pounded his chest and let out a wild roar.

This was his first moment of glory after transferring to Wyndham.

As Jay Chou passed by Li Ao on his way back, he was still in a daze.

How did you know about that place...?

"Retreat to defense first."

Li Ao didn't explain further, but simply raised his hand and pointed towards the front of the court. Jay Chou immediately shut his mouth.

The score is now 36 to 31, with the gap widening to five points.

Morgan Park's head coach sprang up from his folding chair and slammed his hand hard on the tactical board.

"pause!"

He stared intently at Wyndham's half of the field, his brows furrowed into a deep knot.

He couldn't understand why his team's horn tactic, which had been going smoothly in the first half, was so precisely countered by the opponent in the second half after they changed direction.

Meanwhile, Durant on the sidelines also changed his sitting position.

He lowered his arms, which had been wrapped around his chest, and slowly stroked his chin with his right hand.

His gaze first swept over Jay Chou, then fell back on Li Ao, and he tapped his chin twice with interest with his index finger.

The final whistle blew, and the score was 41-33.

Wyndham gave Morgan Park no chance to fight back, securing their first win of the season at home.

Before the scattered cheers from the stands had subsided, Latoya had already darted into the aisle, shielding himself as he squeezed toward the exit, excitedly telling Lin Jinni how explosive his dunk had been.

Lin Jinni followed behind her without saying a word until they were almost at the exit when she suddenly stopped.

She glanced back towards the stadium, then turned and disappeared into the crowd leaving.

On the other side, the players were returning to the locker room one after another through the sideline tunnel.

Taishoen somehow appeared behind Li Ao and lightly patted the back of his head.

"Well done, you've got some skills."

Before Li Ao could react, the burly man strode past him and walked away without looking back.

No sooner had one person left than Jay Chou quickly caught up with him.

"Leo,"

He moved closer to Li Ao and finally couldn't hold back the question he'd been holding in for so long, "How exactly did you figure out where they were going to pass the ball? Especially the second ball, when you told me to mark the wing, there wasn't a soul in sight there."

"That's how they played in the first half, didn't you notice?" Li Ao replied casually, without stopping.

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Jay Chou slowed down, looking incredulous.

He couldn't help but wonder: Everyone is giving their all on the field, not sitting on the bench as a coach, who the hell would remember these tactical details?

Once everyone had returned to the locker room and taken their seats, head coach Durant was already standing in front of the tactics whiteboard.

Surprisingly, his tone was unusually gentle today, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

"Your defense in the first half was a complete mess. The opponent used a 'horns tactic' to attack you back and forth, and none of you on the field could figure it out."

There was complete silence below; no one dared to speak.

"However, the second half showed a significant improvement, mainly due to a better defensive performance."

Upon hearing this, everyone's gaze fell on Li Ao.

Durant looked around and then called out Leo: "Leo played well today. He didn't just throw up threes after coming off the bench, and he understood the opponent's tactics on the defensive end. You all need to learn from him."

"Playing ball requires more than just physical strength; you also need to use your brain."

His gaze returned to Li Ao, and a rare smile appeared on his usually tense lips.

"Come on, everyone, let's give Leo a round of applause."

There was a brief silence in the locker room – the coach actually led the applause during the post-match debriefing, something unheard of in Wyndham's locker room.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, scattered applause finally broke out.

Jamal patted the most enthusiastically, while TySean, leaning against the corner, only patted the wall symbolically twice.

Durant nodded in satisfaction, then turned his gaze to Jaylen:

"Jaylen also played well. Leo directed the help defense, and you rushed over without hesitation. That fast break dunk was beautiful and very inspiring. Keep it up."

As soon as the post-match debriefing ended, the players stood up one after another, and the locker room returned to its noisy state.

Jamal squeezed next to Li Ao, lowered his voice, and looked on with a gossipy expression:

"Leo, I have a feeling Jaylen's acting a bit strange today. He actually struck up a conversation with you in the corridor earlier. If this were before, wouldn't he have looked down on you?"

"Maybe he had a good time with that dunk," Li Ao casually replied.

"Come on, don't give me that." Jamal chuckled, winking and nudging his shoulder. "Did you beat me into submission?"

Li Ao shrugged and didn't continue the conversation on that topic.

He turned around, took out the stack of ICTM practice questions that Green had borrowed from his backpack, flipped to the page marked with a folded corner, and took out his phone to press the ten-minute countdown.

The locker room was filled with smoke and fumes.

Someone was dramatically imitating Jay Chou's dunk, a wet towel flying through the air and hitting the cabinet door. Someone's water glass was kicked over, which drew laughter and curses.

Only Li Ao sat on the bench in the corner with his head down, his pencil scribbling formulas on the draft paper, completely shutting out the surrounding noise.

Soon, most of the people in the locker room had left, and the laughter and chatter had drifted out into the hallway.

Durant wiped the whiteboard clean, picked up his folder, and was about to leave when he noticed Li Ao still hunched over in the corner, writing something.

He initially thought the kid was reviewing the game, so he curiously walked over.

But when he tilted his head to take a closer look at the contents of the paper, he froze—

What's written there isn't basketball tactics at all; it's clearly a dense collection of mathematical formulas and dizzying calculations.

"What kind of crap did you write?"

"Mathematics competition problem".

Li Ao didn't even look up. "There's a match next month."

Durant stared at him for a good two or three seconds as if he were an alien, but in the end he said nothing, picked up his folder, and silently pushed open the door and left.

With a loud bang, the iron door to the locker room slammed shut behind us.

On the bench, Li Ao's phone screen was lit up, showing a countdown with 6 minutes and 12 seconds remaining.

……