Blue Eagles try to avoid 0-4 hole, clash with Falcons

Games Saturday

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

11:30 a.m. – NU vs UST (women)

1:30 p.m. – Ateneo vs AdU (women)

4:30 p.m. – NU vs UST (men)

6:30 p.m. – Ateneo vs AdU (men)

MANILA, Philippines -- Once an impenetrable dynasty in the UAAP realm, Ateneo is in a meteoric fall to enter an unfamiliar territory for the first time in more than a decade.

Once and for all, too, the winless Eagles are out to end that agony right here and then when they face the gritty Adamson Falcons in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

For the first time since 2013, Ateneo is off to a dismal 0-3 start to remain as two of the only winless squads in the eight-team UAAP cast, alongside Far Eastern University (0-3), nearing the halfway mark of the first round.

It’s the worst start for the Eagles – with all their losses being in double digits – in the Tab Baldwin era marked by sixth straight finals appearance and a three-peat at one point.

And whether that paltry beginning to a stacked season bannered by new kings La Salle and host University of the Philippines would continue to torment the Eagles at the cellar is now on their claws at 6:30 p.m. opposite the very capable Falcons (2-1).

The Eagles’ bid comes after the interesting duel between National University (1-2) and University of Santo Tomas (2-1) at 4:30 p.m. following their blowout losses. NU absorbed a 27-point beating at the hands of UP, 89-62, as Santo Tomas was tamed by Adamson, 69-56.

“We just got to get the win-loss record on the rails now. It was a pretty brutal start to the season, the schedule we had, but that's the way it is. You've got to play them sometime,” said Baldwin, whose wards faced an early litmus test against last season’s finalists La Salle and UP.

Ateneo folded to UP (3-0), 77-61, and La Salle (3-0) just last weekend, 74-61. As if that’s not enough already, the Eagles also fell prey to the vastly-improved Santo Tomas Tigers for the first time in nine years, 74-64.

But the Eagles are unbowed – not yet. And the revival bid starts against Adamson, which for its part dealt Santo Tomas a reality check to prime up for Ateneo.

“You have to be patient with the process. You invest too much time into something you know will pay dividends and just don't know when it will pay dividends,” he stressed.

“It just doesn't look very good right now, it's awful at 0-3, but you know we just believe that now we've got that stretch of the schedule out of the way and no we have to do a really good job because Adamson showed off what they're capable of.”

Meanwhile in women’s basketball, reigning champion University Santo Tomas (3-0) and former seven-peat titlist NU (3-0) clash in a heavyweight rematch between unbeaten squads at 11:30 a.m. before the Ateneo-Adamson duel at 1:30 p.m.