Naija street journalist don catch di gist for di Basketball Tournament wey dey hot for Louisville, Kentucky. Di game wey dem call TBT don reach Game 2 between La Familia and The Ville for Freedom Hall.
Di bracket and rules don change dis season. We get eight alumni teams wey dey face each oda for four best-of-three series. Also, we go see alumni teams from Seton Hall and Syracuse, and Kansas and Kansas State wey go start dia Game 1 on Tuesday.
Di winner take all prize na $2 million dis season, wey double di amount wey dem give last season. Eight non-alumni teams dey for separate bracket for Las Vegas. Di winner of non-alumni bracket go travel to di winner of alumni bracket home court for championship game on Sunday, August 2nd.
Make we yarn about di game. La Familia lead di best-of-three series 1-0. Di last time dem meet, La Familia win 70-61 for 2024 TBT quarterfinals. Now di series shift to Freedom Hall for Louisville for Game 2, and The Ville get dia back to di wall.
For Game 1, The Ville take 21-17 lead into first quarter, but cold-shooting second quarter make dem outscore 24-12, so dem dey play from behind for second half. La Familia start with Willie Cauley-Stein, Chris Coffey, Andrew Harrison, James Mainor-Bell and Darryl Morsell, di non-alumni wey play for Maryland‘s Shell Shock team for 2025. Morsell get game-winning dunk for Elam Ending, and he finish with game-high 17 points. Harrison add 14 points. Cauley-Stein play only 16 minutes and score three points, making his only shot. Sean McNeil step up with 12 points for 28 minutes, and La Familia get four players for double digits.
For The Ville, dem outrebound by three points despite Montrezl Harrell dey present. Both teams commit 11 turnovers. Di free-throw rate of 75% (18-of-24) slightly better. Harrell get 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Chris Jones lead with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. David Johnson add 12 points. Jaylen Johnson come off bench for seven rebounds, one assist and one block, plus four points for 14 minutes. Russ Smith, wey double as coach, get nine points on 4-of-11 shooting for 18 minutes off di pine. Malik Williams, surprise addition after playing for NBA Summer League with Chicago Bulls, get two points for 22 minutes, but misfire on his only two shot attempts while blocking three shots.
Looking ahead to Monday Game 2, The Ville get dia back to di wall. Dem need win to avoid elimination before di tournament really start. I like di home side to get di job done, and we go stick with di under, as dat one no really test for Game 1. Di sportsbooks slide di total down by two full points as result of Game 1.
