First-years Taiga Kagami and Tetsuya Kuroko join the basketball club, Kuroko challenges Kagami to a one-on-one match and fails to impress Kagami, Kagami declares he'll become Japan's best player. Kuroko states it is impossible for him to do it alone, but that he has decided to be the shadow to Kagami's light.
Seirin visit Kaijou for the match, and are insulted that the coach, Takeuchi, underestimating them, has only allocated half the court for the match and tells Kise to sit out.
Kagami starts coordinating with Kuroko, and the flow of the game switches in Seirin's favor until Kise accidentally hits Kuroko, who has to sit out. Play continues, with Kagami focusing on defense and leaving attack to the 2nd years.
Midorima, the Generation of Miracles' number one shooter, shows up and chastises Kisg. Seirin visiting a steakhouse. Kise asks Kuroko why he left basketball in middle school.
The second years task the first years with getting some highly sought after "special bread" from the cafeteria. Seirin learns that they will face Shutoku in the finals of the Inter High preliminaries.
Kuroko is subbed out to conserve his energy, leaving Kagami to deal with Papa alone. Seirin finds out they will face two of the "three emperor teams" on the same day, with Seiho in the semifinal and Shutoku in the grand final.
Seirin's next match is against Seiho, who are known for their defense, and defeated Seirin the previous year, leading them to the brink of quitting basketball. Kuroko, is determined to win the match for the seniors.
In Shutoku's game, Midorima subs out after only 5 minutes to conserve strength for the Grand final match. Kagami gets his 3rd foul, Seiho's Tsugawa speaks carelessly again, which only fires up Kuroko and third quarter is tied 19-19.
The game with Shutoku begins, with Midorima blocking Kagami's attempt at an alley-oop. Midorima scores the first goal with a three, but Kuroko makes a surprise retaliation by passing across the court to Kagami, who scores with a dunk.
The 4th quarter begins. Riko told Kagami he only has two more jumps left in him, and he uses the first to block Midorima as a bluff. Kuroko uses his misdirection on Takao to draw his attention to himself.
Since he played basketball while recovering from his injury, Kagami is again suspended from practice until Seirin's first match in The Inter-High Championships which is against Touou; Aomine and Momoi's school.
Even without Aomine, Touou takes an early lead using Momoi's scouting information and predictions. Seirin only manage to break through using Kuroko and Kagami, both of whom Momoi can't predict.
Aomine goes one-on-one against Kagami - each blocking the other's shot at the goal. Kuroko asks to stay in for the third quarter, determined to beat Aomine. Kagami reminds him to have faith in the team, and Seirin decides to bench Kuroko.
Aomine's skills and erratic pace force Seirin to fall behind. Kuroko is subbed back in and Seirin cuts the lead down but Aomine intercepts Kuroko's Ignite Pass and taunts Kuroko about not having changed or improved since middle school.
Back in the locker rooms, Aomine is angered by a Touou bench member badmouthing Kuroko. Kagami tells Kuroko that they can win by just working together anymore, and Kuroko hits a slump, his passes in the next two games becoming inaccurate.
Kiyoshi and Kagami appear to be evenly matched. Seirin begins the first of 3 consecutive days of practice matches so that each player can be placed on a specific training regimen during the summer.
Riko announces two summer training camps; to the beach and the mountains, to prepare for the Winter Cup qualifiers which start right after summer vacation.
Kise plans to copy Aomine's style, acknowledging that his admiration of Aomine has been preventing him from copying him. While Kise perfects his copy, Touou is able to widen their lead.
Aomine asks for all the balls in the last quarter, and he and Kise alternate goaling. Kise starts to get fatigued, and the strain in his legs makes him almost miss a shot.