Elusive win
The first round of the 76th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men's basketball tournament turned out to be another painful one for the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons.
The boys from Diliman slumped to its seventh straight setback this season, a 57-62 loss from the University East Red Warriors on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. It was also UP's 13th overall defeat dating back from last year's second round.
UP Head Coach Ricky Dandan is fully aware of how his wards are trying hard just to earn a win but the Fighting Maroons' inexperience proved to be costly adding that they manage to hang on and keep in step with their opponents for two to three quarters but could not close out the game.
"I said it before that it will be a tough season since the level of competition is high. We're always there fighting, but could not close out the game and that points to our relative inexperience," said Dandan, who wanted his wards to learn from their losses.
"I told them that we need to experience adversity and work hard for us to learn. If it is by the hard way that we can learn, so be it," he said. "This is a young team. One thing we won't do is to give up."
Based on unofficial statistics, UP has allowed its opponents to score an average of 76.8 points per game—La Salle has made the most points with 96 while UE has the fewest with 62. The Fighting Maroons averaged only 66.8 points per outing.
Dandan, who is hoping for a better showing in the second round, said he won't make any adjustments in their game. "I won't change anything on the technical side of the game, I'll just let everyone learn their mistakes."
He added that he knows they can compete against the other teams this season.
"But there are certain stages in the game where we collapse, go scoreless or give in defensively. And those are the things that we need to keep working on."
The boys from Diliman slumped to its seventh straight setback this season, a 57-62 loss from the University East Red Warriors on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. It was also UP's 13th overall defeat dating back from last year's second round.
UP Head Coach Ricky Dandan is fully aware of how his wards are trying hard just to earn a win but the Fighting Maroons' inexperience proved to be costly adding that they manage to hang on and keep in step with their opponents for two to three quarters but could not close out the game.
"I said it before that it will be a tough season since the level of competition is high. We're always there fighting, but could not close out the game and that points to our relative inexperience," said Dandan, who wanted his wards to learn from their losses.
"I told them that we need to experience adversity and work hard for us to learn. If it is by the hard way that we can learn, so be it," he said. "This is a young team. One thing we won't do is to give up."
Based on unofficial statistics, UP has allowed its opponents to score an average of 76.8 points per game—La Salle has made the most points with 96 while UE has the fewest with 62. The Fighting Maroons averaged only 66.8 points per outing.
Dandan, who is hoping for a better showing in the second round, said he won't make any adjustments in their game. "I won't change anything on the technical side of the game, I'll just let everyone learn their mistakes."
He added that he knows they can compete against the other teams this season.
"But there are certain stages in the game where we collapse, go scoreless or give in defensively. And those are the things that we need to keep working on."
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