Seirin Freshmen vs Sophomores was a training match between Seirin High's first and second years. This was the first time Kuroko's abilities were seen.
Game[]
Prologue[]
Even though Kuroko was a member of the Generation of Miracles, he is physically weak and undersized, initially causing the Seirin players to have little faith in his abilities, Kagami least of all. The next day, it rains, and the Seirin players have some time left before practice ends. Riko decides that she wants to see the freshmen's strength and suggests a 5-on-5 scrimmage.[1] The freshmen are scared of the sophomores, having heard the upperclassmen managed to make it to the final league of the Interhigh preliminaries the previous year.
Mini game[]
Kagami gets "triple-teamed"
Riko throws the ball in the air for the tip-off. Kagami jumps against Mitobe and gets the ball. He immediately goes for the dunk and overpowers his opponent.[2] The other players and Riko are amazed by his strength. The freshmen hold an 11 – 8 lead early in the game, but with only Kagami scoring. At one point, when Kuroko has the ball, it is almost immediately stolen by Izuki. By his performance, he appears to be completely useless. Mitobe takes it to the hoop, but Kagami, angered by Kuroko's weakness, makes it back and blocks the shot. The sophomores, led by Hyuga, then decide to get serious.
When Kagami receives the ball, he is instantly triple-teamed, and is double-teamed even off the ball. The second-years seem determined to shut him down. While Kagami is stuck, the second-years quicky catch up to the freshmen and overtake them. With three minutes left in the scrimmage, the score is 15 – 31 in favor of the sophomores.[3] Some of the freshmen have given up hope and want to quit, but Kagami grabs one of them by his jersey and yells at him. Kuroko suddenly appears behind him and knees him in the back of the leg, telling him to calm down. Kagami is enraged at Kuroko and begins berating him, while the second-years and Riko suddenly take notice of Kuroko, realizing that they'd totally forgotten about him even being on the court.
Kuroko shows his ability for the first time
At that point, Kuroko asks a teammate to pass him the ball. The player passes the ball and Kuroko immediately redirects it to a free player under the basket.[4] The quickness of the pass is such that the second-years do not even realize where the pass went, until the player under the basket makes the lay-up and scores. Kuroko continues to use his misdirection and pass re-direction to give the freshmen the advantage. With the sophomore defense unable to stop Kuroko's passes and the freshmen scoring, the gap in the scores begins to shrink. Meanwhile, Riko deduces his ability of misdirection, and realizes Kuroko is the rumored "Phantom Sixth Man" of the Generation of Miracles.
Back in the match, the sophomores begin to focus too much on Kuroko's passes and lower their defense on Kagami, resulting in Kagami scoring again. The freshmen are now only a point behind, 36 – 37.[5]
Kagami dunks the ball
With the game coming down to its final seconds, one of the second-years passes, but the ball is tipped mid-pass by one of the freshmen, and the loose ball is caught by Kuroko. He goes for the fast-break and jumps for the lay-up, but misses, much to the freshmen players' collective disappointment. To everyone's surprise, Kagami suddenly appears and performs a one-handed putback dunk off Kuroko's missed basket. With these final points, the freshmen take the game with a score of 38 – 37.[6]