Ahead of Latimer’s big game against Carver, Slam goes to school early to watch some of his tapes in the library. The school librarian, Miss Fowell, tells Slam that Mr. Parrish likes Slam’s work, despite the confrontation they had, though she reminds him he has to keep the rest of his life in order. Slam wants to know why all the adults in the world have lectures, and she says that young people hear all the lectures but don’t take the lessons to heart until it’s too late. While reviewing his tapes, Slam watches footage from the Carver-Trinity game and learns from watching Brothers how he should play against Ice. In art class, Slam does a portrait of Mtisha, putting a lot of feeling into the piece.

At the end of the school day, Latimer hosts a pep rally to get people excited for the Carver game. Coach Nipper announces that because Trinity lost the day before, Latimer is in second place in the conference behind Carver. If Latimer wins, they will have the same record as Carver, but because they will have beaten Carver head-to-head, they’ll be conference champions and advance to the city-wide Tournament of Champions.