One Day Later: ADMU vs UE, DLSU vs UST

The man in the middle - Ateneo leaned on Greg Slaughter, and the big guy delivered (pic source)

ADMU 74 - UE 70
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Player of the Game : After games of Slaughter being a complimentary piece to the squad and not the main focus, ADMU coach Norman Black decided that he needed to go to the well and pound the ball into the big man, exploiting his height advantage over the tiny UE Red Warriors squad. The tactic worked, as Slaughter produced possibly his best game of the season so far, finishing with 19 points on 8/9 shooting, 10 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and just two turnovers.

ADMU Positives :

• It was all about the fundamentals again for Ateneo, as the Eagles went back to the basics of basketball to win this game, getting ahead in the following categories: rebounds (43-34), assists (22-16) and free throws (25-9). 
• The guards of Ateneo had no problem breaking the 2-2-1 press employed by the Red Warriors, and easily forced turnovers on the UE backcourt. Emman Monfort, Kiefer Ravena and Kirk Long combined for 32 points, 14 assists and seven steals in yesterday's game. 
• Ateneo's bench was actually pretty productive as it has been for the past couple of games. Tonino Gonzaga and Justin Chua were the headliners, combining for 13 points, but Bacon Austria and Frank Golla provided some hustle to go with a handful of points.

ADMU Negatives :

• After back to back amazing performances to start the second round, Nico Salva seemed to have used up his mojo, going 1 for 12 from the field, missing a lot of shots he normally makes.
• The Eagles simply could not create enough separation against UE, failing to erect a double-digit lead for just the second time this season (first versus Adamson in the season opener)
• Ateneo posted their worst performance at the line today, shooting 16 of 25 from the field for 64 percent. Their previous low was 64.52 percent, in their second round match with FEU, both far from their average of 74.07 percent.

UE Positives :

• The Red Warriors seemingly could not miss from the floor, hitting 10 of 20 perimeter field goals in the first half before settling back to the norm, though they did wind up with a 7 for 16 clip from downtown. How on fire was UE? They entered the game shooting 14.76 percent from long-range and 35.46 percent from the field, but shot 40-plus percent in this game.
• John Noble posted even better numbers versus Ateneo than he did versus La Salle, dropping 21 points on 9 of 19 shooting, including a 3 for 6 stretch from beyond the arc. Paul Zamar was also en fuego, scoring 15 points, including three triples as well, plus dishing out six assists and getting two swipes. 

UE Negatives :

• Lord Casajeros, you mother flopper.

In your face - tight UST defense contributed to DLSU's downfall (pic source)

UST 60 - DLSU 52

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Player of the Game : While the focus will be on Jeric Teng, and rightfully so, it was Karim Abdul who set the tone for this game, dominating the interior and acting like a demon on the glass. In 30 minutes, Abdul hauled down 12 rebounds, half of them on the offensive end, while also making three assists and no turnovers. Plus he also scored nine points on 4 of 7 shooting, with the only quibble being his 1 for 6 performance from the stripe.

DLSU Positives :

• They didn't have a 2-point second quarter.

DLSU Negatives :

•  Despite it being a must-win game, the Archers still came out flat from the opening whistle, looking like it was a summer preseason game. Only Joseph Marata finished with double-digit scoring, and barely, chipping in 11.
• It sure looked like DLSU was in for another two-point quarter, drawing things out to the 1:49 mark of the period before scoring their second field goal. As usual, too much jump shooting characterized DLSU's woes, making just 1 of 12 perimeter shots, and three shots in the paint, before connecting on the inbounds play by Tampus and the dunk by Van Opstal.
• After starting the season hitting 67.95 percent from the line, the Archers have gone back to the horrid form they displayed in the summer. In this game, they were a miserable 12 for 26 from the stripe, failing to connect late on big free throws. 
• The Tigers held La Salle to just 20 points in the paint, a season-low for DLSU, after averaging 37.33 points, entering this game.
• Everyone knows this by now, but damn is head coach Dindo Pumaren slow at making adjustments. UST ran the same press break play four times in a row: inbounds to Fortuna, pass to Teng right below the halfcourt line, double comes to Teng, Teng reverses the ball back to Fortuna, who makes a forward pass to the right wing player who drives in for a layup, with a big man on the weak side to allow for a drop pass if the lone Archer commits to him. Later on, coach Jarencio ran the same play twice, have Fortuna drive down the middle, attract the defense, and then throw it over his head to Teng at the top of the three point line. Result? Triples.

UST Positives :

• UST did all the right things today, making a mockery of the La Salle press (which they added some 2-2-1 variations to, after being creamed by it versus UE, ironically, it didn't help), unleashing the 2-3 zone early, and basically dictating the tempo, preventing DLSU from getting up and run. UST previously allowed the most fastbreak points per game, 15.2, but La Salle only had seven in this match, a testament to improved defense on the Tigers' part.
• The Tigers backcourt came up big in the clutch, with Teng hitting two huge triples and Fortuna coming up with the coast to coast layup. 
• The Growling Tigers bigs came up with 63 rebounds, 32 on the offensive end, cementing their rep as the best rebounding team in the league. DLSU in comparison had just 41 rebounds total, 16 on the offensive end.

UST Negatives :

• Fortuna turned in his second straight poor shooting performance, going 2 for 18 from the field, though he did make the two assists to Teng for the triples that sealed the game.
• Kevin Ferrer continues to struggle, scoring just six points on 1 of 9 shooting, going 4 of 7 from the arc, and committing three turnovers.  What happened to him?

UAAP Picking Record: 30-10