I think the timing of the personal "drama" with Anzaki sensei and the revelation about Sakuragi's past was very well handled!
That major defeat during the other match and Sakuragi's new training arc etc. were already a good buildup to the match. But by having shown the Ryonan Kainan match in detail (+ we already knew Sendooh from the very first match Shohoku played in) and having the Shohoku team undergo some emotional drama with sensei (whose trust in their abilites they want to reconfirm); their resolve seems to have grown stronger again.
This way, a victorious outcome in this match feels better earned & therefore is more satifsying!
I'm looking forward to the beginning next chapter!!!
(On a sidenote: The original week to week Jump readers must've felt pretty frustrated at this point, since they were waiting so long for this match to start but this chapter was just more buildup/ reintroduction)