UE Red Warriors on the
warpath
by rick olivares pic borrowed from rappler
When the final whistle blew on the University of the
East Red Warriors’ 78-73 victory over University of Santo Tomas to forge a
play-off for fourth spot in the Final Four of UAAP Season 77’s Men’s Basketball
Tournament, Chris Javier jumped on center Charles Mammie in celebration.
In was a stark contrast when the two nearly came to
blows during the halftime break of what ended up as an 80-63 loss by UE at the
hands of the Southwestern University Cobras in summer match last May 26 in
Cebu.
Nearly four months after that dust up, the two were
arm in arm in a bromance show of celebration. The Red Warriors, the hottest
team in the UAAP Men’s tourney, finished the second round with a five-match win
streak and a 6-1 record to go 9-5 and a chance to play in the Final Four.
Javier finished with eight points while Mammie ended
up with a paltry seven as he only entered the game in the second half following
a first half benching by head coach Derrick Pumaren for being late for the
agreed call time.
It was UE’s back court trio of Bong Galanza, Dan
Alberto, and Roi Sumang that carried the team scoring-wise for a total of 42
points while Mammie supplied some rebounds and assists to go with plenty of
intimidation in the lane (in spite of not recording a single block).
How did UE arrive at this position when they looked
on the verge of flaming out for the second consecutive year?
They are
finally getting what Derrick Pumaren has been preaching since the summer.
When Pumaren was named head coach less than 10 days
before the start of the summer basketball leagues, he made it clear that the
team will have a different philosophy when it comes to their game plan. “I am a
defensive coach,” he declared.
What defense you may ask after UE finished 3-4 in the
first round. Yes, the Red Warriors were a middling pack. They forced the most
turnovers with 24.9 and scored the highest turnover points with 18.9. That’s
18.9 points out of a possible minimum of 50 points.
The high-pressing full court press harassed opposing
teams and kept a UE team that didn’t have too many dependable weapons in the
game. The problem was they got tired in the endgame.
Save for the blowout wins against Adamson and UP,
they lost by a bucket to La Salle, in the final two minutes of play to FEU, and
another pair of two-point losses to NU and Ateneo. “We could have easily been
6-1,” lamented Pumaren after that crushing 93-91 loss to the Blue Eagles.
Well, they did go 6-1 in the second round.
From that middling pack on defense, UE has climbed
the defensive charts in the second round.
They are second in points allowed (66.1 ppg), third
in field goals allowed (36.8 ppg), tops in perimeter defense as opponents are
only able to score 15.0 points per game. They remain the best in forcing
turnovers with 24.4 per match.
“I’d say that were only up to 80-85% in our capacity
as a defensive unit,” described Pumaren of his team’s capability after the UST
win. “But there is a caveat there – we still give up a lot of free throws (a
league worst 17.1 free throw points per match). Even with Charles’ presence,
our opponents are still able to get to the basket a lot. So we have to look at
improving our perimeter defense.”
Another thing that UE did was to ease off the gas
pedal. In the first round, players simply got tired from the full court
pressure defense. Stepping off the accelerator for some stretches allowed the
players to conserve themselves for the crucial fourth period where they had
suffered many a meltdown.
It’s all
hands on deck.
If you look at the individual scoring statistics of
the Red Warriors.
Player
|
1st
Round
|
2nd
Round
|
Roi Sumang
|
14.1
|
12.5
|
Bong Galanza
|
11.3
|
12.5
|
Charles Mammie
|
8.3
|
10.8
|
Dan Alberto
|
6.7
|
7.4
|
Chris Javier
|
6.6
|
6.1
|
Paul Varilla
|
5.7
|
5.6
|
While the scoring has gone slightly down for Sumang,
Javier, and Varilla, others have picked up the slack by hiking their stats even
every so slightly.
Their key players are able to get a few more minutes’
rest in time for the endgame as the bench has come up big. The bench has come
up big with a league best 32.7 points per outing; over three more points than
second place, FEU.
The Red
Warriors gave Mammie more minutes on the court.
The center from Sierra Leone is playing slightly more
minutes – 20.6 to the 18.6 minutes per game he got in the first round.
Charles
Mammie
|
Points
|
Rebounds
|
Assists
|
Steals
|
Blocks
|
Turnovers
|
1st Round
|
8.3
|
8.1
|
0.4
|
0.6
|
0.9
|
3.6
|
By 2nd Round’s end
|
10.8
|
9.1
|
0.9
|
0.6
|
1.1
|
3.3
|
“Charles is starting to play better and with that
swagger that he showed last year,” noted one long time UAAP official who
requested anonymity.
In the total rebounds category, leaders Jason
Perkins, Karim Abdul, and Alfred Aroga have less than a full point advantage in
rebounds against Mammie. Except they play a lot more minutes than the second
year UE center. How much more when Charles is into the game?
And despite playing two minutes more, Mammie’s fouls
haven’t increased much – from 2.4 to 2.6. “The big guy gives us a chance to
win,” said Pumaren who immediately offered a caveat. “As long as he comes
focused and without the other things that distract him whatever they are.”
“Last year, even with a better team, we didn’t get
the job done,” said Mammie after the win against UST. The Season 76 Red
Warriors who handily defeated NU for the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup
title were favorites to barge into the Final Four and contend for the title.
Instead they crashed and burned to a 7-7 record.
“We know we have a chance to go all the way,” added
Charles. “Now, we just have to do the job one game at a time.”
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