‘Defence the key to Cup win’ says UCD Marian Head Coach Ioannis Liapakis



UCD Marian remain on course for an historic Super League and Cup double after reaching the National Cup semi-finals following an 87-53 victory over fellow Dublin side DCU Saints.


Sitting three points clear at the top of the Super League standings, at the half-way stage, Marian produced a superb defensive display to keep the leagues hottest scorer Dee Proby under wraps. Head Coach Ioannis Liapakis was a happy man after the game. He told us, “We are really happy with the result, but even happier with our defensive performance. We managed to keep the best scorer in the country Dee Proby to 15 points and the whole team to 53 points.”


When asked if he was surprised with his side’s form this season he said, “To be honest with you it’s not a surprise for us to be top of the table and into the Cup semi-finals. The recipe for success needs a lot of ingredients such as: good players / depth and quality in the bench / a friendly and competitive environment / chemistry / health / luck / consistency, and the most important thing, to sacrifice yourself for the team. So during the pre-season we realized that we have all these ingredients and that’s why we expected all these results.”


Had he changed anything from previous years Liapakis said, “Regarding to the past years we haven’t done anything different. There’s no secrets in basketball, only really hard work on a daily basis.”


“Our goals remain the same and we still go step by step and treat every game as a final”


“We are really looking forward for the rest of the season and the only thing we hope is to be healthy.”


UCD Marian continue their quest for Super League glory when they face KUBS in UCD this Saturday with a 7pm tip-off.



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