Seirin High School makes it into the semifinals of the Winter Cup. They defeated Toô Gakuen, featuring Aomine, and Yosen, featuring Murasakibara, both from the "Generation of Miracles," causing Seirin to be one of the more noticed schools. They firm their resolve towards the semifinals. Kagami, nudged by Kuroko, heads outside of the tournament building in order to reconcile with Himuro, but seeing a guy picking a fight with Himuro and Alex, steps in to help. That guy is Shogo Haizaki of Fukuda Sogo Gakuen. He is a graduate of Teiko Junior HIgh, and he was supposedly a regular player in the first-string team before Kise joined...

The other semifinal between Kaijo and Fukuda Sogo begins. For Kise, Haizaki is a nemesis that he has not once won against. Being on Teiko Middle School's starting lineup, Haizaki's skills were definitely there, but due to his arrogant attitude that ignores the rest of the team, the Kaijo team members feel anger against him. Kaijo attacks with steady play but cannot stop Haizaki. Furthermore, Haizaki shoots Moriyama's irregular three pointer as if to show off...! This was Haizaki's ultimate skill, similar to, but different from, Kise's "Copy"!

Haizaki's skill is not copying a move he's seen once, but to "pillage" it. Kaijo starts to be cornered as each player's signature plays are sealed away. Even Kise, who has a variety of moves thanks to his Copy skill, starts to run out of stock moves as the game progresses. Furthermore, the fierce game pace puts Kise's leg close to its limit... The groove is completely with Fukuda Sogo at an advantage, causing frustration as the Kaijo team couldn't move as they wanted. Kise finally kneels down, but at that moment, a cheer from Kuroko reaches him from the audience. Kise stands up once again as if to answer that voice and uses his new skill Perfect Copy to start the comeback run!

The final four of Winter Cup has finally been decided. However, on the day of the semifinals, Kuroko and Kagami both realized their basketball shoes were broken and hurriedly get on their way to buy new shoes. However, Kagami can't find shoes in his size! Thanks to Kuroko's suggestion, they seek advice from Momoi, and her reply is that he should use Aomine's shoes, as they both have the same shoe size. Of course, Aomine wasn't going to meekly hand a pair over, and they end up in a one-on-one with the shoes as the prize! Meanwhile, the first semifinal match is between Shutoku and Rakuzan, and the latter has not only acquired Akashi from the Generation of Miracles but also has three of the Five Uncrowned Kings on their starting lineup. The true powers of Rakuzan, which allowed them to create the strongest lineup in their history, is about to come into the open!

The first semifinal match is between Shutoku and Rakuzan. The offense and defense are both at high levels, creating a see-saw game, but the tides shift in the second quarter. Hayama, one of the "Five Uncrowned Kings," exhibits a dribble with tremendous power and overwhelms Miyaji, who was matched up against him. Furthermore, Otsubo loses a power battle before Nebuya. Everyone other than Midorima are burdens.. Such harsh words were thrown out. However, Midorima wasn't upset by the comment and throws a pass out to Miyaji!

Facing Akashi's Emperor Eye, which sees the future movements of the opponents, Shutoku looks like they had no hand to play. But the will to fight once again lights up within the eyes of the team members, and they face Rakuzan with the spirit of "unyielding tenacity"! Thanks to Midorima and Takao's trick play, they try to close the gap in one strong run, but to answer that, Akashi scores in his own goal to the shock of everyone around him. Against Shutoku, who bares their teeth without giving up until the very end, Akashi throws out words that show no mercy.

After the match Rakuzan vs.Shutoku, Rakuzan wins with the score of 86 - 70 against Shutoku. For the Shutoku team, it is a very huge defeat that even Takao and Midorima cried after the game. Kise, Kagami and Kuroko did have some short greetings before their match. The match started, how can Seirin stop Kise's Perfect Copy?

The battle between Seirin and Kaijo finally begins. Seirin tries to secure their victory by striking first, but Kise unexpectedly begins using his Perfect Copy at the start of the game, demonstrating his overwhelming strength.

The Seirin-Kaijo game was white-hot due to the battle between their ace players. With the defense and offense reversed now, Seirin goes on the offensive. As the last one to awaken, and one with potential comparable to the Generation of Miracles, Kagami was on his way to unleashing that latent talent. Kise felt that as a threat more than anyone else. That was why he definitely didn't want to lose!!

Kise's injury becomes worse. His coach orders him to step down the court for a while and rest until the last two minutes of the last quarter wherein he could use his Perfect Copy. Kagami's talents give way to Seirin having a 15-point gap in the lead with four minutes left in the game. Kise's frustration leads him to recover fast, determined to win the cup. Rico is surprised and realizes that Kise's Perfect Copy can now last until the end of the competition.

Kise recovers and manages to fill the 15-point gap. Kaijo becomes the lead with a score of 78-77. Seirin becomes restless and their moves become stiff as Kise's fast recovery and Kaijo's persistence to win makes the crowds cheer, putting Seirin under pressure. Kuroko devises a plan that requires time for observation in order to overcome Kise's Perfect Copy.

Kuroko finally finds a way to stop Kise, and Seirin wins with a deciding shot made by Kuroko. The episode ends with Kuroko telling a story about his past

Kuroko is first placed into Teiko's third string basketball team. However, after practicing everyday after school with Aomine, Akashi realised Kuroko talent as the "Phantom 6th Man." During a game between the third and second string, Kuroko proved himself and was upgraded to first string. But when he plays in a friendly game as starting player, he is so nervous he is subbed out immediately. The coaches are unsure if they should keep him on first string, but with Aomine's encouragement, they keep him on for one day. Now that Kuroko's nerves are under control, his help in the team is obvious and he is permanently placed on the first string bench.

Nijimura gives the captain position to Akashi because his father is sick. Akashi now becomes captain. The Teiko coach comes back. Midorima and Murasakibara gets into a fight, and Kuroko challenges them into a practice game. Then, Aomine and Kise get into a fight, but not a serious one. Akashi wants to get rid of Haizaki because he keeps skipping practices. Aomine plays a game, but he doesn't have fun and loses interest in basketball because he crushed the other team. Teiko goes to the National qualifiers, and Aomine meets his friend, while the face of Kuroko's friend is also revealed. Aomine ends up crushing his friend's team, and gets called a monster by his friend. Also, Kuroko's friend loses, and calls Kuroko, crying. The episode ends with Aomine sitting by the pool, a blank expression on his face.

The old coach advises to Aomine to keep playing basketball until he can find a worthy opponent. Teiko wins the National finals. The old coach collapses and the young one takes over coaching the team. The team individually undergoes rapid growth in power. Aomine leaves mid-practice and the coach gives him permission to skip practices, leaving Aomine in even more despair. After an act of insubordination, Akashi goes head to head with Murasakibara, and just when Akashi is about to lose, he switches personalities and crushes Murasakibara. Akashi gives the rest of the team permission to skip practice as long as they win matches. He later tells Kuroko who failed to convince Aomine that there is two of him.

Kuroko get's knocked unconscious in the game before the grand final, in which Teiko is set to play against Kuroko's friend, Shige's team. Kuroko regains consciousness, and since he cannot play in the game, asks Akashi to make Teiko play their best. Teiko, bored by scoring quotas, decide to play a new game. Kuroko gets to the match in time to see the conclusion of the game, with Murasakibara scoring the final goal for the opposite team in order to make the score read "111, 11". Devastated, Kuroko decides to quit basketball and visits Shige's school, where he finds out Shige has transferred and is going to quit basketball. Shige's friend tells him not to quit basketball, because he thinks Kuroko can melt their hearts.

Seirin prepare mentally for the grand final match of the Winter Cup. Kagami and Tatsuya finally properly reconcile. The teams from previous matches, including the teams of the Generation of Miracles come to watch the grand final. During the decider for 3rd place, Kise sits out of the match and Shutoku wins against Kaijo, 96 to 54, taking 3rd place. Rakuzan and Seirin warm up, and Akashi declares the winner will be Rakuzan. Furihata gives Kuroko a wristband filled with the team's thoughts. The game starts with Kagami taking the tip off. Kuroko fumbles a pass but Kagami manages to score the first goal with an impossible jump. And enters "the zone".

Kagami dangerously continues using up his stamina in the zone, Riko swaps Kuroko for Mitobe so that Kagami can focus on offence. Akashi pairs up against Kagami and Akashi takes control of the game until Mitobe's defense breaks the flow. Kagami exits the zone, and Kuroko re-enters the game. Kuroko is more visible than usual, which Akashi claims is due to his learning how to dribble and shoot. Disheartened, Kuroko is taken out of the match for one side pass, then put back in for the remainder of the first quarter. The first quarter is finished with a tie, 21-21. Kuroko is set to sit out the 2nd quarter to think of a solution. Meanwhile Rakuzan's Chihiro Mayuzumi reveals his ability to misdirect just like Kuroko, but with better base attributes.

Kuroko observes Mayuzumi's play from the sidelines. Seirin subs in first-year Furihata to lure Rakuzan, but he quickly gets fatigued after facing Akashi. Fukuda, a first-year, takes his place. Hyuga goes up against Rakuzan's Reo Mibuchi (who Hyuga admired in middle school) in a "Battle of the shooting guards", but loses. The same happens to Kiyoshi against Eikichi Nebuya. Another first-year takes Fukuda's place. One-by-one, Rakuzan crushes Seirin's players. Akashi demonstrates that he can also make alley-oops, finishing the second quarter with Rakuzan in the lead, 62-37.

Rakuzan vs. Seirin enters the third quarter. Seirin, not giving up, entrusts their scorers Hyuga and Kagami with all their hope. However, even that small glimmer...

Kuroko is back in the game and he's able to stop Mayuzumi, but even with Kagami in the zone, Seirin has to defeat the Uncrowned Kings to win.

The game enters the final quarter. Hyuga is back on the court, having figured out how to beat Mibuchi; Kiyoshi faces Nebuya despite his knee pain.

With the clock ticking down, Akashi is in the zone and his strength is overwhelming. Kuroko suggests he and Kagami work together against him.

Akashi is back to his old self and starts playing as a member of a team again, inspiring his teammates to play at their full potential against Seirin.

With 40 seconds remaining in the game, the Seirin team must unite and give it their all to have a hope of defeating Akashi and Rakuzan.