Two weeks ago, a downcast Adamson University rookie Jerrick Ahanmisi walked out of the SM Mall of Asia Arena with his head down and a towel draped over his head.
After dropping 27 points against the league-leading De La Salle Green Archers, Ahanmisi had gone scoreless for the first time in his UAAP career against the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons. The thought of being scoreless in the crucial stages of the tournament rattled the 18-year-old.
“I was just thinking about how bad a game that I played and how much I let my team down,” admitted Ahanmisi, who is averaging 15.5 points per game. “I did not play as well as I usually do and I felt that I did not help my team.”
“It took a couple of hours. After the game, I just told myself to forget about it and next game, come back and play hard. Play my usual game.”
The Filipino-Nigerian sensation bounced back in a big way on Saturday afternoon. He went 6-of-10 from the field for 17 points, 12 coming in the opening frame of the game. More importantly, his production helped snap Adamson’s two-game slide.
But Ahanmisi deflected all the credit to his teammates and his coaches, saying they had lifted his spirits during the two week break the team had.
“I think it was a pretty big game. It showed that we should never give up. Even if we came from two losses, we can always bounce back,” he said.
“My teammates told me to forget about the game and bounce back. They’re going to help me out even if I do have a bad game. My coaches told me to keep my head up.
“I learned to never take a day off and never give up even if I am having a bad game.”
And as a marked man these days, Ahanmisi is learning to embrace the challenge of facing hard-nosed defenses game in and game out.
“The other teams are playing tougher defense on me. I’m not getting as easier looks as I did when I first started. That just comes with all of the expectations that my coaches are coming from,” he said.
“I just need to learn how to take that as a challenge and accept it.”
