IN NUMBERS: La Salle vs FEU – UAAP Season 81

MANILA, Philippines – In what is shaping up to be the most intense game of the season so far, the De La Salle Green Archers and FEU Tamaraws are set to battle one more time for the last UAAP Final Four spot.

Tied at 4th with 8-6 records, both teams are gunning to knock the other out for a chance to face – and possibly dethrone – the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles in the semifinals.

An entire season will be contested under 40 or so minutes, and both sides need all the help they can get.

Season averages

Playing in the final year of his controversial collegiate stint, FEU stretch forward Arvin Tolentino is hoping to make it a memorable and productive one.

After a brief stint in Ateneo, the 6-foot-5 shooter is looking to nail his first championship at the latter half of his career, hence the number change to Dirk Nowitzki’s 41.

Despite sitting out 3 games to two different suspensions, Tolentino is making up for lost time with stellar offensive performances. Currently, his team-high 13.3 points per game average is the only one in double-digits for his team, which says a lot for the fate of their games where he was not playing.

After causing his team to fall into a hole they shouldn’t have been in, he’d look to give everything he can to dig them out of it.

Meanwhile, there is no shortage of scoring on the side of the green and white, but they’re certainly a different monster altogether once Santi Santillan gets going.

Paired with fellow giants like Justine Baltazar, Brandon Bates and Taane Samuel, Santillan gives La Salle a luxury of height no other team has. As proven by his 10.8 points and 8.6 rebounds averages, Santillan and his unorthodox floater jump shot are forces that shouldn’t go unchecked for very long.

And for him, there’s no better way to go back home to his family than bringing along one more UAAP title.

Overall, both teams are pretty much even in terms of scoring output. La Salle’s 74.9 points per game average is third in the league while FEU follows right after with 73.9.

What’s different, however, is the primary source of their offense. La Salle’s towering roster translates to a league third-best 33.3 points in the paint per game while FEU’s 29.4 lags behind at seventh.

Meanwhile, the guard-heavy Tamaraws counter that by averaging 34.1 perimeter points per game on a 33% clip, both numbers being league-bests.

As expected from their lineup, La Salle is second-best in rebounding average with 46.9 boards a game while FEU is just seventh with 43.1. The Archers also average the second-most blocks at 4.4 per game while the Tams are dead-last with just 2.1 swats a night. 

One side says that size doesn’t matter. The other screams that height is might. Only one can go deeper into Season 81. – Rappler.com