One Day Later: UP vs ADU, UST vs DLSU

The woes continue for UP as they get manhandled for the second straight game (pic source)

ADU 72 - UP 46
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Player of the Game : After a three-game stint in which Nuyles made just 14 out of 40 attempts, the mercurial wing man bounced back with a 21-point performance, built on 50 percent shooting (3/4 from three-point, 6/10 overall). He also added five rebounds, two assists, three steals, and a dunk at the beginning of the fourth quarter to put the exclamation point on the Falcons' blowout win.

UP Stat to Watch : The Falcons held the Maroons to their second worst fastbreak game, giving up just 10 attempts and 11 points. That seems to be the key to totally blowing out the Maroons, as when they don't run, their offense grinds to the halt as they struggle to execute in the halfcourt.
UP Player to Watch : After a great all-around game against FEU, Mike Silungan has bottomed out, succeeding an eight point, 3/12 shooting performance with a 12 point, 5/18 game. In UP's last two losses, Silungan has been 1 for 17 from beyond the arc, with most of his shots being far off mark.

ADU Stat to Watch : The Falcons continue to scorch the rims from downtown. After a "lucky" 9 of 20 effort from trey versus DLSU, Adamson followed it up with an even luckier 11 of 19 shooting night, as they shot better from long-range than they did from 2-point territory. They currently take and make the most triples and at the best conversion rate as well, so it looks safe to say that the NU meltdown was more of an outlier than the norm.
ADU Player to Watch : Lester Alvarez has shrugged off a slow start to the season by 9 of 16 from beyond the arc in their past two games, including 4 of 6 versus UP. It's a far cry from when he began the season 3 of 15 from downtown and got just two points versus FEU.

Other Stats:

• A horrendous 8-6 first quarter saw both sides combine for a horrendous 6 of 29 performance from the field, with just two free throws being taken, one made.
• Adamson won despite giving up 20 more rebounds to UP, including 19 more offensive rebounds. Somehow though, it didn't translate to second-chance points for the Maroons as they got just 10, compared to six by the Falcons.

Archer power trumped Tiger power, but just barely (pic source)

DLSU 74 - UST 71
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Player of the Game : See what happens when you're not bombing away from three-point land? Norbert Torres continued to play under the rim and this time it got him 21 points, eight rebounds and five swats as he came up big with an 8 for 12 (one stray shot was from 3-point land) shooting night. However, defensively he committed some huge lapses late, allowing Karim Abdul to get some wide-open layups, but overall, his statline is much improved from his clunker of a game versus Ateneo.


UST Stat to Watch : UST actually did decent in both aspects, matching DLSU rebound for rebound, 40 to 39 total, 15 to 16 on the offensive glass. They also held the Archers to just 21.1 percent from downtown, 4 of 19 to be specific. Three of those four made triples though, came in the fourth quarter, when the Tigers were trying to wrest away the lead. Had La Salle missed just one more trey, the game would have gone into overtime.
UST Player to Watch : It took awhile, but when Karim Abdul got going in the second half, he was darn near impossible to stop, scoring 21 and pulling down 11 rebounds. He also demonstrated a deft passing touch for three assists and was a strong 7 for 10 from the stripe. The one nit? Not boxing out properly after Tampus' missed free throws, causing him to foul out and handing DLSU the win.


DLSU Stat to Watch : UST allowed Jarelan Tampus to run wild in the first half for 10 points, part of 18 first half points on 8 of 15 shooting from the DLSU guards (Tampus, Atkins, Vosotros, Revilla). The defense tightened up somewhat in the second half, as the output dropped 12 points on a 5 of 11 clip, courtesy of the zone defense.
DLSU Player to Watch : LA Revilla had another fruitless shooting night, finishing with just two points on 1 of 4 shooting. But the floor general dished out eight assists to no turnovers, proving that points aren't everything.


Other Stats:

• UST continues to give up fastbreak points an alarming rate, giving DLSU 18 attempts and 24 points. And despite having just one less offensive rebound, La Salle was able to double UST's second-chance points output, 12 to 6.
• DLSU held UST to just 8 of 29 shooting , or 27.59 percent in the first half, as the Tigers struggle to score. With the switch to the zone though, it was the Archers' turn to struggle though, making just 8 of 32 in the second half, though three of those field goals were for treys late.

UAAP Picking Record: 20-8