Quick Fire: FEU Tamaraws' depth and inside presence too much for the UE Red Warriors

(Photo Credit: Arvin Lim, ABS-CBN Sports)

Final Score: FEU Tamaraws def. UE Red Warriors 90-83

Notable Players:

Prince Orizu, FEU (15 points, 16 rebounds, 2 blocks): UE simply could not match Orizu’s presence in the paint on both ends of the floor. Orizu had his 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in the 1^st 7 minutes of the game alone, right before UE adjusted by sending more double teams. His mere presence was enough, however, to stifle the Red Warriors come the end game.

Ron Dennisom, FEU (16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block): Dennison stuffed the stat-sheet by doing work on both ends of the floor. What really impressed was how efficiently he performed. To produce this kind of output (54% FG) in just 20 minutes while being bothered by foul trouble is something special.

Arvin Tolentino, FEU (11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 6 minutes): Tolentino was a great spark off the bench and scored all of his points in the 2^nd quarter. (3/4 3pt FGs). He was benched in the 2^nd half since he suffered a mild hyperextended knee in the previous game against Lasalle.

Clark Derige, UE (22 points, 2 rebounds): Derige was one of the few bright spots for UE this game. He was a spark for UE off the bench, helping out the Red Warriors in keeping the game close against the Tamaraws.

Alvin Pasaol, UE (13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists): Pasaol may look like he had an above average game based on his stats, but he had an inefficient outing.  He scored most of his points from the free throw line (2/12 in FGs) since he couldn’t bully his way to the paint because of Prince Orizu. Good thing he still provided his usual rebounding, facilitating, and grit for UE before fouling out.

Quick Analysis:

- During the first quarter, FEU looked like they were going to finish the game zero problems. UE continuously threw their aggressive full court press, but FEU had little trouble breaking this. They ended up with a number of easy fast break lay-ups (or dunks, courtesy of Orizu), which helped in building the big cushion they had versus UE during the early part of the game.

- The full court press UE has been known for using wasn’t working during the second quarter, so they switched to a half court press then dropping into a form of either the 2-3 zone or 2-1-2 zone. The half court press was effective into somehow delaying FEU’s offense, which slowed down compared to the really fast pace FEU played 1^st Q. The zone was also definitely able to contain the damage being made by Orizu down low, forcing FEU to use other options to score.

-FEU had some players on foul trouble in the game: Orizu, Dennison, and Parker, to name a few. This is where FEU’s depth was used by Coach Olsen. Most of the players who played for FEU managed to throw in some quality contributions (no matter how small those contributions may be) when it came to preserving the lead they were holding.

-The prevailing theme from this game was the use of the paint to get ones points. UE shot just 3/17 from 3pts (17.65%), while FEU shot 6/28 (21.43%) This wasn’t just a matter of FEU and UE missing shots because it was a bad shooting day. It was also how, where, and when they were shooting these baskets. For both teams. a lot of it looked really rushed, and some of it was just outright bad shot selection when obviously, there were better options that could’ve been made on the same play. UE scored 30 points from inside while FEU had 34. This was a game of runs, and when each team made their short runs, it was because of a number of consecutive quick hits from the inside.

- If there’s one thing FEU has to work on, it’s their inconsistency when it came to breaking the press and their instability when it came to protecting the ball. UE only had 15 TOs while FEU had 23. However, these stats don’t tell the entire story of the game. Most of these FEU turnovers were committed during the latter part of the game, which made UE cut the lead to as low as six points.  Yes, some key players had foul trouble, and Coach Olsen may still be experimenting with his lineups or rotations. FEU fans should hope Coach Olsen finally finds the right blend come the end of the first round.