Games on Wednesday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
10 a.m. – UST vs FEU (Women’s)
Noon – NU vs UE (Women’s)
3 p.m. – UST vs FEU (Men’s)
5:30 p.m. – AdU vs UP (Men’s)
SURPRISE leader Far Eastern University (FEU) has no plans on stepping on the breaks when it tries to add University of Santo Tomas (UST) to its victim list in the UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Action sizzles at 3 p.m. with the FEU Tamaraws (4-1) eyeing their fifth straight win against the slumping UST Growling Tigers (2-3) to further tighten grip of the No. 1 seed as the league’s biggest revelation this season after finishing fifth last year.
University of the Philippines (UP) (3-2), off an 80-76 win over titlist De La Salle University (DLSU), goes for solo third against Adamson University (3-2) at 5:30 p.m.
But the spotlight is on the wards of coach Sean Chambers, whose magnificent start included massive wins over the DLSU Green Archers and the five-time finalists UP Fighting Maroons.
“The message was ‘Are we who we think we are?’ If we are, we’ll keep approaching the game in a business-like fashion and keep executing what we do,” said Mr. Chambers, in no business of being satisfied in a bid to end a three-year Final Four and 11-year title drought for the Morayta hoopers.
FEU, in its third year under the former PBA import, is enjoying its best start in 11 years. The Tamaraws had a similar 4-1 kickoff in 2015 when they ruled the UAAP behind the troika of Mac Belo, Mike Tolomia and Roger Pogoy under now Adamson mentor Nash Racela.
Mr. Chambers, however, is well aware that they have not done anything just yet especially against the two squads they have struggled beating in the past to end the first round on a high note.
“What I told the guys in the locker room was that, ‘The two teams that have been the hardest since I’ve been here have been UST.’ They pretty much had our number and I think we’ve only beaten National University (NU) once,” he warned.
And that bid will not still be a walk in the park as the charges of coach Pido Jarencio are hell bent on getting back on track after a heartbreaking 87-85 overtime defeat at the buzzer against NU last week to slide to 2-3. — John Bryan Ulanday