CHASTISE the coaches, not the players, for University of Santo Tomas' horrifying 91-77 Game One defeat in the UAAP Season 82 men's basketball Finals.
Coach Aldin Ayo shielded his Growling Tigers from criticisms after the series opener failed to live up to the hype heading into the best-of-three championship series and showed the big discrepancy between his four-seed young guns to the undefeated defending champions.
To him, charge it to the coaching staff.
"I think the problem is coaching staff. Tingin ko we were not able to prepare them well," he said on Saturday, owning responsibility for the defeat. "There were situations na hindi namin nadaanan sa practice."
From the get-go, Ateneo wrested control of the game, starting off with eight unanswered points which ballooned to a 20-4 lead and grew to a 19-point second quarter edge, 36-17.
"We played bad, really bad. We were not executing. Some players did not play their usual game," he said.
Though Mark Nonoy carried UST's hopes on his shoulders and even got it to as close as three, 41-38, late in the second quarter, it was just too much of the opposition, breaking away anew to take hold of a 54-39 lead at the half.
Ayo acknowledges that the unfamiliarity of his young side to the high-stakes nature of the playoffs may have taken a toll on the players -- a facet which he once again put on the coaches' inability to prepare the team as hard as they could for the Finals.
"The Finals is a different atmosphere. But as I told you, we have to be patient," he said.
"Whatever it is, you can't blame the players. Trabaho ng coaching staff to simulate things. Sa abot ng makakaya namin, we are going to do that. Pero yung mga players, they did everything that they could. Hindi lang talaga lumabas yung laro. Sa ganitong situation, coaching yung may pananagutan dyan."
Gloomy as the vibe is in the UST camp, Ayo is keeping his fingers crossed that his side makes the most of the following days to make better adjustments against Ateneo for Game Two on Wednesday.
"I told the players that we just have to handle this loss the right way. That means going back to our videos and titignan namin kung ano yung mali," the Sorsogon-born mentor said. "We have to correct them. We have three days to prepare for Wednesday."
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