Basketball
Sito Alonso’s team signed one of their best games of the season on Sunday after one of the grayest, and it is not the first time they have retaliated in a big way
A defeat, a brawl, a lack of consideration… Sito’s UCAM doesn’t care. Find the incentive to give your best version in any negativity. Sometimes caught with pins and others not so much, she takes advantage of the circumstance to find an extra motivation that she can use to spur the group in search of maximizing their chances of victory. It happened on Sunday to harvest against Andorra the second largest victory so far this season, 29 points difference (96-67) only surpassed by the 34 by which they beat Obradoiro on matchday 6 (70-104).
Before the Andorrans were measured, the motivation was clear. By double game. It came from before, since November 13, 2021. On that day, in one of the matches corresponding to matchday 10 of the Endesa League, UCAM fell by the minimum in Andorra after having been winning by 17 points. The team then led by Ibon Navarro would react, well, yes, as expected, but it was not until 17 seconds from the end of the match that they would go ahead on the scoreboard. The horn sounded and the Murcians had already thrown into their backpacks one of those stinging defeats, one of those that make a trip that covers the entire Spanish Levante even longer.
belt tension
But there was still more. At the time of the greetings between coaches, Sito did not shake hands with David Eudal and Paco Vázquez, assistants, who were celebrating the victory euphorically. As if automatically, the reproach came, something past braking, by Eudal. And the tangana was already mounted. Even more rarefied atmosphere between the two clubs and the coffee with double sugar for this Sunday, when the one who acted as the main coach was Eudal. Sito’s approach did not give an option to an Andorra that was already down by twenty points difference in the first quarter and the closest it came to UCAM was a few minutes later, at 13. Nipping any minimal reaction in the bud through timeout, Sito and his team had a maximum of 36 points (92-56, minute 37).
For the duel against Andorra, the azulón team had pending accounts to settle from the first leg
But it was no longer just about settling pending accounts, it was also about oneself. UCAM had returned to the Palace four days earlier, more than a month and a half later, already with the Copa del Rey behind them, and their reunion with the fans was completely cold. A relegated Burgos escaped from Murcia with victory and the Palace, which received its heroes from Granada, registered a poor entrance and lack of cheers.
The fact is that the UCAM has already shown that it is an expert in looking at its pride when something is not going quite right. There was especially a moment of the season when he felt hurt, when his visit to Lugo brought a brawl with several players involved and that ran great through social networks and national media, leaving Rojas and Taylor. UCAM lost that day, but just that following week they made Fuenlabrada pay for the damage (99-76) with their second highest score of the course until then, also winning by up to 36 points.
Another example is when he faced Manresa. Sito praised Pedro Martínez in the previous one, “master of teachers”, and the Catalan replied on Twitter. “The disproportionate flattery is false and hypocritical, he says a lot bad about the one who does it.” Those from Bages, the current highest scoring team in the competition, stayed at 67 points, their second lowest mark of the season.
Sito himself has also drawn attention when talking about his team for the number of free kicks – it is the one that does the most in the league – and not so much when his numbers show his offensive efficiency or the Copa del Rey was well underway. Taylor and company show their attention when in social networks the point guard is not named among the candidates for the ‘MVP’. The UCAM is on the verge. And you will not hesitate to take advantage of it for your best performance.
gap in the table
With their victory, their twelfth, UCAM rose to seventh place to gain strength in the ‘playoff’. But what is interesting is the gap that opens a little further down. Between eleventh –Bregoán– and twelfth place –Unicaja– there are currently three wins apart, clearly separating the classification from those who fight for the title eliminatory with mere survival.
#proudest #UCAM #Murcia