Quick Fire: UE Red Warriors stuns NU Bulldogs to open up 2nd Round with a bang

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

UE Red Warriors def. NU Bulldogs 90-77

Notable Players:

Mark Olayon, UE (17pts 6rebs 8asts 1blk): Olayon continues his stable play by contributing all around damage on the floor and being efficient from the field.

Mark Maloles, UE (13pts 6rebs 2asts): Maloles wasn't very efficient from the field making on 33% of his shots but contributed big and even had the best +/- for the game (He's a +15 on the floor)

Nick Abanto, UE (13pts 11rebs 1ast 19mins): Abanto had quality minutes and notched a double-double in just 19 minutes.

Alvin Pasaol, UE (11pts 10rebs 1ast 1 stl 19 mins): Despite having a subpar game (shooting 33% and foul-trouble), he still managed to chip-in a double-double.

Issa Gaye, NU (20 pts, 13 rebs, 1 stl, 4 blks): As expected, Gaye dominated this game as there was a lack of "bigman" presence to stop him.

JayJay Alejandro, NU (16 pts, 8 rebs, 10 asts): Alejandro was 2 rebounds shy of a triple double. Though the stats may look pretty, he also had a game high 5 TO's as being a primary ball-handler gave him problems too.

Quick Analysis:

- Coming into the game, almost everyone would expect NU to win over UE, especially with NU's win after the closing game against UP in the 1st round. It was somehow an upset for NU, but wasn't much of a surprise either for UE. right off the jumpball, UE looked and played like they are inspired. They never looked back.

- This game and the "significant" stats actually looked a little weird and ironic. The team turnovers, inside points, and bench points are the three key statistics that we'll be looking at.

1. First one would be the turnovers. It's quite ironic that UE has only about half (12 TO) as much as NU's 21 turnovers. This looked ironic as we have seen and known Coach Jamike's defensive themed game and his press defense. Surprising because UE used to struggle against pressing teams,  but was able to take care of the ball.

2. The inside points also looked a little weird because you would expect NU to dominate the paint. The most obvious would be Issa Gaye's presence inside. And he did deliver, but UE still had 60 points in the paint compared to NU's 42. This could be a result of the press that UE was able to handle, leading to quick and easy baskets inside.

3. Lastly, we have been talking about UE's lack of bench contribution for the entire first round, and there were even times that Pasaol would score more than 80% of the bench points. This game, NU only had 23 bench points while UE scored 40 bench points (about 45% of total team points) and every player who stepped on the floor has at least 2 points. If only UE would only have this kind of consistent bench production, nobody would be surprised if they put up a fight and scare every team they are up against.