The Murcian team tonight visits Unicaja, a powerhouse in the league who seems to have resurrected old laurels
The UCAM closing in December is better than the one that opened it. They have hit the reset button and are no longer the team that returned from the ‘FIBA windows’ to give the worst version of themselves with three heavy defeats in a row and the transfer of their group leader in the Champions League, making it will be the only Spanish team in the league to go through the ‘play-in’ play-off to get into the ‘top 16’ of it.
To rediscover the victory, the victory he achieved in his last game in the Endesa League against Gran Canaria (99-85), in what was his best game so far this season, or the one that allowed him to secure the home game factor To set the play-in tie after successfully beating Tofas (77-87) on the last day of the Champions League group stage, UCAM changed several things.
One of them, the most urgent, was to correct their bad start to the game. In the five games after the return from the break of the national team, Sito Alonso’s team lost the first quarter by an average of 11.5 points. That is, the unfavorable point difference with his rival exceeded the number of minutes elapsed, after 25% of the game had already passed. A plate that is too heavy.
The other, to find a quintet of guarantees. With the injury to Luther, the striker most used to starting up to that point, Sito opted to raise James Anderson to ‘4’, a striker with these capabilities, and with Radovic continuing from the bench. With the American’s return with an Irish passport, Rojas was the sacrificed of the starting five, with Anderson on ‘3’, and rewarding Radovic for his great moment with possession from ‘4’. The other great novelty, with Bellas being the starting point guard for Trice to come out with the second unit, freer to search for his own shots and find a more productive context to feel comfortable in the game. McFadden is the undeniable starting shooting guard and Pustovyi is known as the most solvent ‘5’ with pivot rotation being one that wins in definition.
With the new starting line-up, UCAM has won its two matches, well marked from the start. The first quarter against Gran Canaria, resolved 25-15, was the second best of the season (the first, at 17-29 of the second day, in Zaragoza, precisely with Bellas and Radovic as starters), and the best quarter of Bursa’s game was also the first (14-22).
Tonight, this improvement of the UCAM, for which Jordan Davis could return, although Sito says about him that “such an electric player needs more training to reach the highest level”, he undergoes an exam in the Martín Carpena, where he awaits the Unicaja of former Ibon Navarro and Augusto Lima, who face UCAM for the first time since his third and controversial departure from the club, just a month after extending his contract in Murcia.
A Unicaja in which, unlike those of the past seasons, where it seemed to be signed without rhyme or reason and the vast majority of its talent was concentrated on external positions, a project is intuitive. For the same reason, Navarro is trusted, who arrived midway through last season, shortly after being sacked by him and ultimately descended from Andorra. Much is not that the situation was diverted. Already left out of the cup, Unicaja won just three of their thirteen games under their new coach, conceded the last six rounds and finished the season in 12th place, the worst in the club’s history (equal to that of the 1993 -94 season) since Caja de Ronda and Maristas de Málaga merged in 1991.
But with an important clearance in a squad that only three players follow (Díaz, Brizuela and Barreiro), this Unicaja is already another. With more muscle and acquisitions tailored to his coach, Ibon Navarro has imposed his philosophy on a team that is fifth with 8 wins and 4 losses. When he wins, he does so in a very powerful way: only two wins were by a single digit difference and the average is 21 points in his favour. And it’s not surprising: their four defeats were against teams in Copa del Rey positions.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
