Tamaraws were simply 'outhustled and outworked' in Game 2
Outhustled and outworked.
That, in a nutshell, was how Far Eastern U head coach Nash Racela summed up his team's lackluster performance in their 47-62 setback in Game 2 against the National U on Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum in their UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball titular showdown.
Far from their sharp form that helped them take the opener 75-70 last Saturday, the Tamaraws showed up flat-footed, falling into an early 16-point hole, and failed to come up with any kind of attack that could break the impenetrable defensive blanket employed by the Bulldogs.
And the post-game stats sheet said it all. Although its top two guns—guard Mike Tolomia and Mac Belo—tallied at least 15 points, FEU collectively shot a horrendous 17-of-61 (27.87) percent from the field, including just two out of its first 15 attempts in the opening frame, and failed to hold its ground in crashing the boards, giving up 19 more on NU, which also enjoyed 27 offensive rebounds.
“We just got outhustled and outrebounded by NU,” rued Racela. “We got outrebounded by a big margin. They had 27 offensive rebounds. It’s hard to win that way because you gave them 27 extra possessions. There were a lot of 50-50 balls na naunahan kami ng NU.”
And NU’s lockdown defense also threw them off balance, according to Racela. “We missed shots because they forced us to miss shots. They played great defense,” he noted.
The 5-foot-10 Tolomia, who went 6-of-19 from the field, admitted their slow start did them in.
“Buong game nagmamadali kami kasi first quarter pa lang, nakalamang na sila samin,” he lamented, pointing to NU’s big 16-1 run in the opening frame that served as the Bulldogs’ springboard for a 22-6 lead, setting the tone for a methodical victory before a mammoth crowd of nearly 24,900 fans.
Racela echoed the same observation. “It (NU’s strong start) is something na kailangan naming bantayan. We expected that from them, coming off a loss, bubuhos sa start,” he said.
"On our part, I think we have to manage their (FEU players) emotions. Gusto agad ng players manalo. That is something na hindi namin successfully nagawa. Medyo magulo kami sa simula. And I think that is something that helped them take the lead,” Racela added.
Although they dropped their first game after four meetings against NU this season, Racela is confident they can have a better showing in the sudden-death affair next Wednesday.
“Pag-aaralan naming mabuti ‘yung game. We’ll make adjustments as well. Ang advantage namin is the time. Paghahandaan at pag-aaralan talaga naming mabuti ang plans namin,” he said.
