Before the UAAP Season 89 Collegiate Men’s Basketball Tournament commenced, many following the league expected American center Miles Dieonte to serve as the University of the Philippines’ main student-athlete this season.
However, life throws curveballs, and the former NCAA Division I player was deemed ineligible due to a lack of documents.
Instead, Francis Nnoruka — expected to take a backseat in Season 89 — led the way for UP on Sunday. He scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to power last year’s finalist to a 92-85 victory over University of Santo Tomas at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Asked whether Dieonte’s absence from this batch of Fighting Maroons gave him extra motivation against the Growling Tigers, Nnoruka said it was simply a matter of taking everything in stride and getting to work with his teammates.
“I think it’s pretty much the mindset we’ve had in our team the whole year. We just go out and show up, play with heart and effort, just trying to get the job done,” said the 6-foot-9 big man.
“It was unfortunate for Miles not to be able to play. It means we have more work to do. We just had to fill in the spot and perform well.”
Season openers tend to be tight affairs as teams deal with pre-tournament jitters. Against the Growling Tigers, the Fighting Maroons found themselves down 58-53 in the third quarter. But Veejay Pre, Arvie Poyos, James Payosing, and Sean Alter sparked UP’s fightback to take a 66-62 lead heading into the fourth.
Poyos and Pre then took control in the final period, converting a three-pointer and a smooth layup, respectively, to extend UP’s lead to 71-62 and put the Fighting Maroons firmly in control.
As good as an opening-day win feels, Nnoruka knows there is still plenty of work left to do.
“It was a great game,” said the 24-year-old Nigerian. “I’m excited we got the win, but we still have a lot to work on to improve. We’re gonna head back to the lab and get the work in.”
As one of the holdovers from last season’s championship run, Nnoruka knows that he and the rest of the Fighting Maroons will have to work doubly hard to return to the finals.
They will have to do so without Harold Alarcon, Janjan Felicilda, Reyland Torres, Terrence Fortea, and Gerry Abadiano, all of whom graduated from UP at the end of Season 88.
The onus is now on this new group of Fighting Maroons to continue the success of head coach Goldwin Monteverde’s program, and so far, so good.
“I believe the previous UP teams… have a standard,” said Nnoruka.
“It’s pretty much to continue where they left off, since the standard is high.”
