REIGNING three-time champion Ateneo is not a fan of records. Despite a perfect 7-0 card and a 33-game win run for nearly four years, the Blue Eagles remain grounded.
Ateneo tries to continue having that mindset that has yielded enormous success when it tangles with archrival La Salle today as the second round of the 84th UAAP basketball tournament gets going at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The match is set at 7 p.m. after University of Santo Tomas takes on winless University of the East at 4:30 p.m.
Far Eastern University tries to repeat over Adamson University at 12:30 o’clock, while University of the Philippines guns for a seventh straight triumph when it collides with dangerous National University in the curtain-raiser at 10 a.m.
Ateneo trounced UST 91-80 last Saturday to complete a first-round sweep but the Eagles could not afford to slow down.
“I think every game’s really going to be a dogfight. We’re not looking at our record, how many wins we have,” Eagles assistant coach Sandy Arespacochaga said.
“That’s something we’ve been stressing to our players. The game’s not yet over,” he added.
The Green Archers, coming off a 61-58 decision over the Soaring Falcons also last Saturday that improved their record to 5-2, are out to boost their bid for a Final Four slot, according to coach Derrick Pumaren.
“For the last two years sa Zoom (meetings) we’ve been talking about this, we have to get as many wins as we can, so far, we have gotten five wins. We wanna stay at the path we’re trying to catch up with UP and Ateneo,” Pumaren said.
“I think we’re in a better spot, but second round’s gonna be tougher so we just have to be ready for that and I think we have to have that conscious effort to play really as a team, offensive-wise iyong execution because we cannot make mistakes now this is the second round. One mistake it might cause you the game, and that might cause you eliminated in the Final Four.”
Ateneo made short work of La Salle 74-57 in their first-round duel last April 2.
