UE coach rues abysmal start vs UP
MANILA, Philippines – UE Red Warriors head coach Jack Santiago deplored the team’s flat start in their 84-69 setback against the UP Fighting Maroons as their comeback effort came up short in Wednesday’s UAAP Season 86 action at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
UP led by as much as 26 points as early as the first quarter, with the Red Warriors unable to stop their foes’ onslaught.
Despite this, UE was able to cut the lead to just nine early in the fourth quarter, but they ultimately ran out of gas en route to the loss.
“To be honest, I am very disappointed especially in the first quarter. I gave the instructions to the boys, especially the first group, to have a good start but we came up flat,” Santiago told reporters.
“I told them it’s a different team compared to the first game considering this is a champion team, a very disciplined team so you don’t need to relax,” he added.
Santiago said that it may be the first time for some players to play against a team as strong as UP, which led them to be shell-shocked from the get-go.
“Maybe [we lacked] character. I would say, maybe, our team is not there yet. But it is a work in process… Hopefully, they learned this lesson so hopefully, we will bounce back,” the coach said.
For his part, Red Warrior Abdul Sawat emphasized the team’s need to start strong.
“We cannot afford to have a flat start every time. We have to improve and always have a good start, because our second group finds it hard to recover,” he said.
“So we have to work on what the coach said. We have to stick to the game plan and work on our lapses.”
UE is currently holding a 1-1 win-loss record and will face FEU on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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