De La Salle University’s loss to University of the East was a case of a double whammy for coach Derrick Pumaren.
The veteran mentor was already feeling under the weather while manning the sidelines and his condition went worse when he witnessed La Salle lose 74-81 to UE.
After such a defeat, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Pumaren lashed out at his players in the locker room but the exact opposite happened.
“I didn’t say anything actually. I was sick that day. I have also to commend my coaching staff for preparing the team,” said the two-time PBA champion coach. “I wasn’t able to attend the practice the last two days because, after the game, it got worse dahil sa talo. But there was really no talk. I just wanted to let them think of what happened. That’s what I told them this afternoon.
“I didn’t do much sa pregame talk, it’s more of talking to them, making them realize things, how important if you want to be a champion caliber team, we cannot choose games.”
By saying less due to his own personal condition, Pumaren let his players have the space they needed to reflect on what went wrong against the Red Warriors.
While the Tamaraws are struggling this season, they are still capable of pulling off an upset with their lineup.
La Salle, though, took care of business early on – leading as much as 31 points – and proved it learned its painful lesson after last Wednesday’s loss to UE.
“We gotta be prepared. We gotta be ready for every game. Whoever we play, we should be ready. We cannot just be ready on the top teams. We gotta be ready to play any teams,” said Pumaren.
“Happy with the win today. The boys showed that we can bounce back. As I’ve been telling them, the 0-4 record of FEU at the start, they’re a better team than the 0-4. I think it worked,” he continued.
“I think they were able to sulk on the loss and be able to bounce back today.”
