GAME STATS: How did UP survive two close games to remain on top?

For UP fans, it has been a delight to watch games this season where the team has a comfortable lead coming into the last minutes of the game. But everything changed yesterday. We are back to being the cramming Maroons.

So how did UP survived two close games to remain on top of the standings?

The UP Men’s Basketball Team had it’s worst shooting day yesterday, shooting only 32% of their field goals. We also had our season low for assists (14). FEU also forced us to more turnovers (21 vs 16). Despite giving out 23 fouls, we were lucky that FEU shot horribly at the line (55%) and missed 9 free throws.

Defense was still key in this win. UP outrebounded FEU (57 vs 46) and limited them to just 12 second chance points. We also protected the rim better, getting 4 blocks to none.

On the other hand, the UP Women’s Basketball Team had a very similar story. They also had their worst shooting game this season (33.8%) and was limited to just 14 assists. The team also gave out 21 fouls and was also lucky that FEU missed 10 of their free throws.

Defense also made wonders for the team. They were able to force FEU into 28 turnovers which they converted to 19 points. The team also had more steals (15 vs 8) and they had better execution in fast breaks (9 vs 1).

For the next games, both teams needs to look at their 3 point shooting and controlling their fouls as areas for improvement.