Thoughts on Ateneo's win over UE and looking at the Blue Eagles' scoring

My Thoughts about the Ateneo Blue Eagles' 94-72 win over UE

by Rick Olivares

I thought that UE picked up where NU left off – playing with a lot of energy and attacking the heart of Ateneo’s defense and being a bit undefendable out by the three-point arc.

Eventually, Ateneo’s collective class, experience, talent, and coaching found its solid footing and the romp was on. The final score was 94-72. 

Nevertheless, I thought that Ateneo struggled for several reasons:

-       - They were unable to match the hustle and energy of UE

-       - During the first half, the quality of the passes was much to be desired that it led to turnovers or being unable to field the pass to score. 

-       - I thought they were unable to defend the pick and roll of UE.

-       - I thought they took way too many three-point attempts instead of attacking the interior of UE when they didn’t have that fly swatter. There is no one to match up against Angelo Kouame and yet, the ball wasn’t finding its way to him. 

But when push came to shove, Gian Mamuyac, Angelo Kouame, Dave Ildefonso, and SJ Belangel rose to the occasion.Especially Gian who is playing his finest season in the seniors division. Talk about a total game changer who does it on both ends of the court. He tallied 21 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal against 1 turnover. 

Mamuyac wreaked havoc on UE in the third period as he scored 13 points and grabbed 3 boards. 

Furthermore, the Blue Eagles’ bench answered UE’s. It was good to see Matthew Daves score some, Gabriel Gomez hit some shots, and Gio Chiu contribute quality minutes. As I previously said, what an improvement in terms of mobility and presence inside the lane!

Now let’s backtrack.

I wondered about those triples and I had to look back.

Season 82 first six matches. These are the three-points made/attempts.

Vs. Adamson 5/31 16%

Vs. La Salle 5/32 15%

Vs. FEU 7/30 23%

Vs. NU 7/24 29%

Vs. UE 8/35 23%

Vs. UP 7/27 26%

After six games, Ateneo was 39/177.

For the entire season, the Blue Eagles attempted from beyond the arc. They threw up 469 triples hitting 125 for 26% and were second to UST 690 attempts and 30% accuracy clip. 

 

Let’s look at Ateneo in the first six matches of this Season 84. These are the three-points made/attempts.

Vs. UP 10/36 28%

Vs. FEU 10/27 37%

Vs. Adamson 11/28 39%

Vs. La Salle 7/24 29%

Vs. NU 9/29 31%

Vs. UE 9/32 28%

This season, after six matches, Ateneo is 56/176. Almost the same attempts from Season 82 but with more makes.

This season, Ateneo is tops in the category of most triples made 56/176 (32%) but the third most attempts after UST and UE. 

Let’s look at how they score most of their points this Season 84. 

Three-pointers

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Vs UP	4/8	3/7	1/9	2/12
Vs FEU	2/6	3/10	4/9	1/2
Vs Adamson	1/4	3/6	3/9	4/9
Vs DLSU	2/7	3/12	3/6	0/6
Vs NU	1/8	3/7	3/7	2/7
Vs UE	1/6	5/10	3/10	0/6

At least one trey in the first. 

Three in the second.

Two in third. 

At least one in the fourth. 

 

Points in the paint

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Vs UP	8	4	14	10
Vs FEU	8	8	6	6
VS Adamson	12	8	6	6
Vs DLSU	10	24	12	12
Vs NU	12	12	6	10
Vs UE	6	4	10	22

At least nine points in the first.

At least 10 by the second.

At least nine points in the third.

At least 12 in the fourth. 

 

 

Free throws

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Vs UP	4/10	1/2	2/4	1/1
Vs FEU	0/0	5/6	1/1	3/4
VS Adamson	0/0	2/2	3/7	6/10
Vs DLSU	0/0	1/2	2/3	2/3
Vs NU	5/9	0/0	0/2	0/0
Vs UE	0/3	3/10	7/10	5/7

 At least 3 free throws in the first

At least two in the second frame.

At least 2.5 in the third.

Almost three in the final canto. 

You can almost say that they do not go to the free throw line often… but no. That isn’t so. At the end of the first round of Season 82, Ateneo was 79/109. 

After six matches this Season 84, Ateneo is 59/100. They have one more game to play (UST) before the first round is over. Maybe, it is better to infer that the percentage is down. 

 

Is there slippage? Not at all. I will explain later.

Ironically, the first six opponents of Season 82 are the first six opponents of Season 84. Let’s look at the margin of victory.

Season 82.

70-52 vs Adamson (18)

81-69 La Salle (12)

63-46 FEU (17)

71-50 NU (19)

85-68 UE (17)

89-63 UP (26)

 

Season 84

90-81 UP (9)

79-70 FEU (9)

78-47 Adamson (31)

74-57 La Salle (17)

74-64 NU (10)

94-72 UE (22)

 

I would say that they are integrating many new parts into the mix. They have nine players who were not in uniform last season. So the unfamiliarity is a factor. Throw in the one day of rest between games and fatigue becomes a factor. And the lack of a pre-season. That has to count for a lot. 

I think the way to look at it is Ateneo is getting different looks from their foes and they have adjusted accordingly. For all their struggles, they are 6-0.