After an eventful offseason, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Men’s Basketball Tournament is back. This weekly series will analyze the state of the Ateneo Blue Eagles as they continue on their title defense with a chance to win a fifth championship in six seasons.
THE SECOND round journey for the Ateneo Men’s Basketball Team (AMBT) has been appalling to say the least, finding themselves on the wrong side of history in Season 86. The Blue Eagles’ 2-3 second-round record marks the first time the squad lost three straight games under the helm of Head Coach Tab Baldwin. Moreover, the Season 85 champs—currently holding a .500 record at six wins and six losses—signifying the most losses the troop has garnered since Coach Baldwin’s UAAP debut in 2016.
Ateneo’s three-game losing slump began when the Blue and Whites dropped their rematch against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, after a three-point dagger from LJay Gonzales, 59-62. The Ateneo Men’s Basketball Team (AMBT) then failed to complete the sweep against Katipunan-rivals, the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 60-65, handing the struggling squad consecutive losses for the first time since Season 79. The National University (NU) Bulldogs then tripped a stumbling Ateneo, 65-61, extending their losing streak to three games.
The Katipunan-based squad then turned their luck around by enduring the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers, 67-59, after the eighth-seeded battalion’s late-quarter surge. The Blue Eagles then kept their Final Four chances alive by surviving the Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons, 62-58, after a nip-and-tuck bout.
With the Final Four picture slowly coming into play, Ateneo hopes to secure the last slot by extending their winning streak to four. Despite a sour start, they can still do so by eliminating the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors from the playoff race and halt the momentum of archrivals, De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers to cap off the second-round on a high note after a sour start.
- Blue Eagles, not Penguins
Euan: Wings are vital for many aerial creatures to achieve flight and reach destinations other beings cannot simply traverse. Without their wings, it is close to impossible for birds to soar the skies. The same can be said for the Blue Eagles in their journey for retention to the mountaintop of UAAP Basketball, wherein it would be close to impossible without the steady and reliable presence of their veteran wings, Chris Koon and Kai Ballungay.
Since the onset of the second-round preliminaries, both Koon and Ballungay have not played their best brands of basketball on the offensive end. The co-captain averaged 8.4 points on 28/23/42 shooting splits during the five-game stretch. His shooting struggles were most evident against fellow Katipunan residents, the UP Fighting Maroons, where he failed to score a single bucket after 10 shot attempts. Ballungay, though not as troubled as Koon is on the offense, still has a lot more to be desired as the 6’6” forward has only provided 10.2 points on a low clip of 40/35/67.
With the two remaining games being crucial for the Season 85 titlists, there is no better time than the present for both stalwarts to regain their rhythm. Ballungay’s double-double performance against UST and Koon’s 2/4 shooting from deep against AdU should hopefully be sturdy foundations for both cagers to build on from here on out. The AMBT needs all the reinforcements they can get if they want to take off into the Final Four stage at the very minimum. With that as the case, where else should the Blue Eagles find it but from their key parts?
- One defensive game at a time
Gershon: In evaluating all six of the games that Ateneo has dropped so far this season, only five of these have been decided by just five points and even less. We can focus on the significance of these down-to-the-wire defeats by emphasizing that the Blue Eagles lost a couple of these matches in overtime. Furthermore, the Blue and White conceded two losses via buzzer-beating game-winners, adding more salt to Ateneo’s already-growing late-game wound. As we approach the final stages of the preliminaries, the Ateneo faithful can only imagine how different the complexion of the Blue Eagles’ season could have been if they had managed to steal one or two of these close contests.
The Blue Eagles’ crunch-time meltdowns can be attributed to their defensive lapses when put under high-pressure situations. In their first buzzer-beater heartbreak versus Adamson, Jason Credo’s attempt to steal the inbound pass displayed a lack of defensive discipline as Vince Magbuhos consequently got a relatively open look to drain the game-winning triple. In the succeeding game-losing sequence against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, a lack of help defense saw Chris Koon struggling to guard FEU’s much more agile LJ Gonzales as the Blue Eagles conceded another three-pointer at the buzzer.
However, no matter how costly these errors have been for the Blue Eagles, these did not seem to faze them in their latest tests against UST and Adamson, as Ateneo pulled off two important wins via clutch defensive stops.
In their Wednesday matchup against the Growling Tigers, the Katipunan-based cagers were able to mitigate a 10-2 UST run in the final minutes of the game through an overall team defensive effort. Ateneo defended the three-point line well, restricting the España-based squad to a lowly 12.5%-shooting from beyond the arc while also forcing 19 turnovers. Knowing that the Growling Tigers’ offensive options were limited, the Ateneo defense focused on hounding the UST star duo of Nic Cabañero and Christian Manaytay, holding the pair to a combined 7/24 shooting from the field. On the other hand, stellar showings by their best rim protector and perimeter defenders Joseph Obasa and Sean Quitevis, helped the Blue Eagles overcome Adamson’s attacks in the do-or-die moments of the game.
Obasa’s defensive presence under the basket was vital in the massive win, as the bigman was able to intimidate drives, block shots, and secure crucial rebounds for Ateneo. In a Matt Erolon-Ced Manzano pick-and-roll play with 30 seconds to go, Obasa’s length forced Erolon to drop the ball to Manzano for a supposedly easy layup. However, the Blue Eagle center’s leaping prowess helped him to jump quickly enough and get the game-saving rejection.
Co-captain Quitevis was the other half of the recipe in keeping the Soaring Falcons at bay, as the veteran wing suffocated Adamson’s top scorer, Matthew Montebon, in the final defensive possessions. Quitevis successfully denied Montebon the basketball in the last two minutes of the ballgame, with the hot-shooting rookie having zero field goal attempts in crunch time.
With the looming postseason, these defensive improvements may just be the key to prolonging Ateneo’s title retention hopes.
- Gut-check time
Luis: The term “gut-check time” is two-fold for the Ateneo Blue Eagles as they enter the final stretch of the elimination round. Aside from aiming to book the final semifinal ticket, Ateneo also hopes to retain its longstanding run of Final Four appearances.
Currently, after winning back-to-back games in the previous week, the Blue and White’s upcoming fixture against the UE Red Warriors will serve as their final chance to go above .500 for the first time this season. Otherwise, the AMBT risks falling to 6-7 before facing a powerhouse in archrival DLSU on Saturday.
The current iteration of the Loyola Heights-based cagers is one of the most unpredictable in recent memory. This season has been a rollercoaster ride for the Blue Eagles, having beaten both the Green Archers and the Fighting Maroons but also having handed FEU two of their three lone wins in Season 86.
With this being said, avid followers of the Blue and White will recognize the similarities between this squad and the 2013 team bannered by a young Kiefer Ravena—the only AMBT roster to miss the Final Four in the 21st century. Additionally, the Bo Perasol-mentored team was the last Ateneo team to suffer from a three-game losing skid before this season.
The parallels are obvious between both teams: full of young, raw talent with the majority of the seniors that carried their respective dynasties having graduated the year prior. However, this year’s squad can look to Season 76 in order to learn from the lessons of the past and write their own fate. If the current Baldwin-mentored squad fails to make the semifinals this season, this will be the second time since 1999 that the UAAP will see a Final Four without the perennial contenders.
Therefore, with so much on the line, it is only right Coach Baldwin noted that the Blue Eagles no longer have the luxury of perfecting their cohesion. Instead, the Blue and White should simply execute their well-guarded plays as they gear up for the final week of elimination play.
With their recent success in last week’s nail-biting contests, Coach Baldwin’s troops have proven they can keep calm when the lights shine the brightest, which was the deciding factor for the Blue Eagles in the previous season. Despite their deficiencies in maintaining sizable leads until the final buzzer, the Blue and White has shown that they can pull through in the end, even if their win may only be by a single possession.
With a lot at stake for this young group, rest assured that if they keep in line with Coach Baldwin’s game plans, a Final Four appearance will be within arm’s reach. As long as the Blue Eagles continue powering through and successfully closing out games in the clutch, it will only be a matter of time until we find ourselves saying that gut-check time is Ateneo’s time.
This week’s games:
Wednesday, November 15, 11:00 AM, vs. University of the East Red Warriors at the Mall of Asia Arena
Saturday, November 18, 6:00 PM, vs. De La Salle University Green Archers at the Smart Araneta Coliseum
Current Standings (W-L)
- UP Fighting Maroons (10-2)
- NU Bulldogs (10-2)
- DLSU Green Archers (9-3)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (6-6)
- AdU Soaring Falcons (5-7)
- UE Red Warriors (4-8)
- FEU Tamaraws (3-9)
- UST Growling Tigers (1-11)
