After the National University Bulldogs suffered their third consecutive loss on Saturday afternoon, coach Jamike Jarin was approached by someone wearing an NU polo shirt. “It was a good game,” the person told the second-year Bulldogs head coach.
Early in the UAAP Season 81 Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Bulldogs are sporting a 1-3 record – down a game compared to their start last season. But their third game had been particularly brutal, as the Ateneo Blue Eagles decimated the season-hosts, 72-46.
But instead of sulking, the Bulldogs put up a valiant stand against the Adamson University Soaring Falcons a week later.
“I told everybody, in four games this is probably the most I enjoyed coaching them. You can see the maturity, the improvement on how it has to be played,” beamed Jarin. “They were doing the right plays, we played defensively and offensively more of as a team, I was really happy with the way we defended and played for 40 minutes.
“For me, I really enjoyed watching and coaching today.”
Though they suffered their third consecutive loss, 58-63, the Bulldogs gave the league-leaders a run for their money. Despite falling behind by double-digit margins twice in the second half, the Bulldogs kept coming back. And they did it with defense, as NU held Adamson down to just 63 points – down 15 points from their season average.
“We were trying to be aggressive and eventually they made the right plays, they hit the open man. We missed some crucial blockouts, we had a chance there, but Adamson is the better team. That’s why they’re number one right now,” admitted the NCAA champion coach.
“I’m really happy, cause we limited Adamson to sixty-three points, I think that’s their lowest output of the season there is something to be happy about in today’s game.
“The true story of the game is, we didn’t get beat on the rebounds today, but the real story right now, we were missing shots. We were eleven-percent from three points today,” opined Jarin, as NU shot just 32 percent from the field in the game. “If we made two, it could have been a big difference. Those are the things that we need to improve. That’s a price to pay for good things, good talent and very young.”
With the young Bulldogs showing that they can compete, Jarin is hoping that his team continues to embrace this process. And come Wednesday against the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, he believes that they can bring the fight once again.
“We’ll just keep working hard, focus on things that should be done and keep on improving. We don’t lose anymore, it’s either you win or you learn and I’d like to look it that way. That was a quote from Nelson Mandela,” he expressed.
“You don’t lose anymore. Either you win or you learn and that’s how we’re gonna treat it.”
