Maroons welcome loss to Archers as opportunity to improve

MANILA, Philippines – The streak-busting loss of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons at the hands of the La Salle Green Archers gave the squad an opportunity to see what they need to improve on the rest of the way, head coach Goldwin Monteverde said.

UP on Sunday absorbed their first loss of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament, 68-56, in a heated matchup. 

The Fighting Maroons, who won their first six games via double-digit blowouts, are now sitting in second place after the loss. The defending champions are on top of the standings, with both teams holding 6-1 slates.

On Sunday's game, La Salle went up by 20 points before the Fighting Maroons stormed back. However, the latter’s comeback attempt fell short. 

After the game, Monteverde said that the loss made them realize what they still need to work on. 

“Definitely for this game, this would be an example that we really need to look up or review on what we need to work on pa, especially offensively, yung execution namin, I think it's one part of our game we could improve on,” he said.

“Yun lang, siguro bago mag-start siguro, ang laking bagay kasi para sa amin na makita namin pare-parehas. Minsan pag nananalo ka, minsan hindi mo nakikita what needs to [be done and] ano dapat ma-realize,” he added. 

Playing without top player JD Cagulangan, UP shot just 20-of-61 from the field, good for 32.8%. 

This is far from the 42.4% field goal shooting average of the Diliman-based squad at the end of the first round. 

The 56 points scored is also the lowest they had in a game this season thus far. At the end of the first round, they are averaging 74.6 points per game, second behind La Salle’s 75.6. 

Aside from this, Monteverde emphasized that the team should also be able to work on starting stronger in the coming games. 

“I think from the last two games namin, sabi ko nga, we can't play like catch-up basketball every time na uunahin mo, sabay hahabulin mo. Yeah, we really need to work on that. Alam namin gawin doon. Siguro, after this, pag napanood namin yung games, makikita namin.” 

For his part, Harold Alarcon said that the loss will be a “stepping stone” for them to improve further.

“Yun nga, sabi ni Coach Gold, yung pag-execute ng offense namin. Sa defense naman, marami kaming kailangan i-work on. Siguro masasabi ko lang na isa to sa stepping stone namin para mag-improve as a team,” he stressed. 

“Maging optimistic lang kami na harapin namin yung mga challenges na naharap namin sa game na to at dadalhin namin papasok ng second round,” he added.

And with the team holding a 6-1 win-loss record, Monteverde is not crying over spilled milk. 

“May one round pa na haharapin, and what's important is to look at how to improve on yung laro namin ngayon as a team. I think we'll take it from there.” 

This was echoed by Alarcon, who said that they need to “take our learnings” and move forward. 
UP will kick off their second round against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Sunday, 6 p.m., at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.