By Charlie Ball
Featured image: Ellie Wright
After a tightly contested first half, a switch in tactics for MMU resulted in a convincing victory for the league leaders.
One key difference was that in the second half, MMU switched to a zonal defence. This forced turnovers from the University of Manchester (UoM), giving MMU more chances to score.
Evan Walshe was once again crucial to MMU’s victory as he caught fire in the third quarter. UoM tried to double team him, but this didn’t work. Walshe’s ability to find a teammate in open space resulted in MMU being able to get easy points and build a substantial lead.
However, Louis Weaver was player of the match. In this game he proved why he is MMU’s captain. His leadership is evident on the court. He knows when to slow the game down and how to keep his team organised. This is without mentioning his shooting ability, which he showed throughout the second half.
Ethan Tucker dominated proceedings for MMU in the first half. His perimeter shooting and ability to drive through traffic when in the lane was particularly impressive. His defensive energy also helped MMU force turnovers throughout the game.
After the match, he said: “We hadn’t varied our defence in the first half, so we thought we would switch it up and see how they react – and they didn’t react well.
“From the get-go we thought it was our game to lose, we had to lock in, and we did that in the second half.”
MMU once again were able to use players from the bench with maximum impact and this week. They had a roster of twelve this week compared to UoM’s nine. This resulted in a fatigued UoM in the later stages of the game.
UoM’s Tom Evans was impressive and kept his team in the game for the first two quarters. But this wasn’t enough, and his team succumbed to the change in defensive tactics.
One strength of UoM’s play was their three-point shooting and this diminished in the second half and that along with the sloppy defending resulted in them gifting the game to MMU.
MMU are unable to be caught at the top of the league.
Next week they face the formidable team, University of Surrey, in the BUCS National Trophy Semi-Final at Platt Lane.
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