UST's Ayo blames Tigers coaching staff after Game 1 blowout loss

MANILA, Philippines — The UST Growling Tigers suffered a humbling 77-91 loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles in Game One of the UAAP men's basketball Finals on Saturday.

This difficult defeat, UST coach Aldin Ayo says, was due to lack of preparation from him and his staff.

"We played bad, realy bad. We were not executing... but I think, the problem is the coaching staff," Ayo said after the game.

"Tingin ko we were not able to prepare them well. There were situations na hindi namin nadaanan sa practice," he added.

The Blue Eagles simply clamped down on the Tigers on defense, with go-to scorer Rhenz Abando held to only one field goal and three points in total.

Meanwhile, clutch shooter Renzo Subido was also limited to only eight points in 21 minutes of play.

But the decorated collegiate mentor wasn't pointing fingers at his players for the result.

"Yung mga players, they did everything that they could. Hindi lang talaga lumabas yung laro. Sa ganitong situation, coaching yung may pananagot diyan," Ayo said.

The Tigers went into the first game of the finals with little time to prepare after battling out three knockout games in the stepladder semifinals.

They will also only have three days to prepare for another do-or-die in Game Two with their season and a shot at the title on the line.

Their next important move, according to Ayo, is to simply back to the drawing board.

"I told the players we just have to handle this loss the right way. That means going back to our videos and titignan namin kung ano yung mali," Ayo said.

Ayo and the Growling Tigers hope to stay alive and blemish Ateneo's immaculate record at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.