The ring of f should be a base ring of R. The degree of the map is preserved.
i1 : R = ZZ/101[a..c] o1 = R o1 : PolynomialRing
i2 : f = basis(2,R) o2 = {0} | a2 ab ac b2 bc c2 | 1 ZZ 6 o2 : Matrix R <--- (---) 101
i3 : f ** R o3 = {0} | a2 ab ac b2 bc c2 | 1 6 o3 : Matrix R <--- R