Yukien Andrada is easily among the best three-point shooters in all of the NCAA, but his rise to that tag didn't happen overnight.
The sharp-shooting forward shared that he started working doubly hard on his shooting from rainbow country right after San Beda University wrapped its campaign last Season 98 as the Red Lions uncharacteristically made an early exit in the Final Four round.
Months before they started a new bid in Season 99, Andrada almost didn't let go of the basketball, taking around 300 to 400 shots in practices while also sinking more in his extra time.
"Every day (I'm) shooting talaga. Siguro around 300 to 400 three-point shots a day ako and I have my shooting partner na si Josh Tagala. We’ve been doing this since last year, after the season, since January," Andrada told GMA News Online.
(Every day I'm working on my shooting. I probably try 300 to 400 three-point shots a day and I have my shooting partner in Josh Tagala. We've been doing this since last year, after the season, since January.)
The offseason labor definitely bore fruit for Andrada.
Back in his rookie year in Season 97, the former Red Cub shot just a total of 10 triples from his 27 attempts from the field for a 37.04 percentage shooting. Then in his sophomore year, he converted 12 of his 44 three-point shots to go 27.3 percent.
The huge development in his shooting transpired in Season 99 when he went ballistic by dropping a total of 55 triples out of his 140 attempts to finish the campaign at almost 40 percent from downtown.
Andrada's growth as a threat from the outside was one of the reasons why the Red Lions were the best three-point shooting among all 10 teams with a league-best 33.35 shooting percentage — a big factor for their magical run to the throne.
"It’s great and naiyak talaga ako kasi I saw the struggles nu’ng first two seasons ko dito. And it just feels nice that we made it to the finals and we won the championship," he added.
(It's great and I was really emotional because i saw the struggles of my first two seasons here. It just feels nice that we made it to the finals and we won the championship.)
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
