Volume 4

The match between Shohoku and Ryonan begins. Uozumi shows off the result of his training by stopping both Akagi and Rukawa from scoring. (In the past competition Uozumi has been unable to score even a point from Akagi. The fact which hurts him most is that Akagi is smaller than him. In the end Ryonan won that match, but the fact still remained. Uozumi lost to Akagi. Since that day, Uozumi has trained himself so that he can repay the insult). Ryonan's coach, Miochi Taoka, is fueling his team by wishing to have a 30 point lead, but Hanamichi, who is a substitute, sneakily goes behind Miochi and 'makes a point' up his backside. With Uozumi stopping all Shohoku's attack, Ryonan's ace, Sendoh, is equally successful with the offense. Rukawa who is marking Sendoh is unable to see through Sendoh's tactics and is always being fooled. Soon the score is 19 to 0 against Shohoku. Sendoh's great performance captivates his team and also brings up the fighting spirit within Akagi and Rukawa. Ryonan once again on the offense with Sendoh about to perform a 'Mid Air Dunk'. Out of nowhere Rukawa appears and snatches the ball away. In the next moment, Rukawa races to score the first point. Sendoh chases and is fooled by Rukawa, Akagi receives the ball and performs his speciality 'Gorilla Dunk'. Now the tide of success is slowly switching over to Shohoku. Akagi is marking Uozumi closely so that he cannot score. Also when it came to the offensive rebound, Akagi is able to steal all of them from Uozumi, so the gap in the score is slowly closing. Rukawa is no slouch and performs a slam dunk to close the gap further. At half time, Moichi is getting angry with his team's performance towards the end of the first half. The strategy is chanced to a 1 to 1 formation. Uozumi marking Akagi, and Sendoh marking Rukawa. Unknowing to Moichi is Hanamichi snooping at the side overhearing the strategy. After a ruckus Akagi manages to get Hanamichi back to their own bench. Sendoh is impressed with Hanamichi. In the next half, Sendoh often glances towards Hanamichi, Hanamichi is enthusiastic at the challenge. But it isn't till Akagi has to be subbed off, because of an injury to his head, that Hanamichi is allowed to play. This being his first match since he has joined the basketball team, brings an unwanted tension within him. He finds himself unable to think about his actions and accidentally injures Uozumi. However help is on the way, Rukawa gives Hanamichi a kick to snap him out of his trance. Uozumi learns from Hikoichi (gather information man from volume 2) that Hanamichi is deputy captain of Shohoku. But what is more unbelievable is that Hanamichi defeated Akagi. Uozumi doesn't believe Hikoichi and gives Hanamichi a direct challenge. As Uozumi is about to score, Hanamichi uses the technique which defeated Akagi. What is know as the 'Huh Huh Huh defense' . (Hanamichi repeatedly jumps up to block off all shooting angles. Effectively forming a wall).