University of the Philippines may have dominated National University in the first round — but for head coach Goldwin Monteverde, the Fighting Maroons should forget about their 78-60 conquest of the Bulldogs last October 7.
The top-ranked Maroons will collide with joint-second Bulldogs in the final game of eliminations of the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
And the game has big implications on the Final Four.
That’s why Monteverde has preached the same preparation over and over against every team. He shared that to take down the gritty Bulldogs, the Maroons should bring out all the fight in them.
“Alam mo it takes only one point to win a game,” quipped the champion coach last Wednesday when asked about their upcoming match-up with NU, which they thrashed the last time out.
“We just really wanna work hard for that whether anong mangyari after the game, importante on our part maibigay namin lahat.”
With De La Salle University’s 72-69 win over Ateneo de Manila University on Saturday, UP needs to win against NU to clinch pole position.
A loss to the Bulldogs will force a triple tie for number one, with La Salle the heavy favorite to claim first seed with a superior quotient unless NU wins by 39 or more.
“Alam naman namin yung importance ng next game na darating sa amin. We just have to be consistent yun naman nagiging problem,” said Monteverde after their 86-61 win over University of Santo Tomas last Wednesday.
With what’s at stake against NU, the Fighting Maroons will not change their approach.
“To be honest, sa amin kasi every game is Final Four for us. Ibig sabihin, we will always come to games giving our best so as I said, we know the importance of the game but yung papaano namin siya haharapin would be giving out our best.”
