GANI Stevens heard the boos, first on Francis Lopez from the Ateneo crowd and later on, Jared Bahay from the University of the Philippines side.
Now that he’s the one facing the ghosts of his past, he’s expecting a little bit more mellow reaction.
“I’m fine. I think the UE crowd’s loving and I don’t think I’m gonna get as much hate as they got, but I’m ready whether they boo me or not,” said Stevens as UP takes on University of the East on Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Stevens spent a year with the Red Warriors before transferring to Diliman before finally playing for State U this UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
But he’s not the only one who’s gonna be directed vitriol from the Recto crowd, with Rey Remogat also expected to watch from the sidelines after also making the leap to the Fighting Maroons.
“Obviously, that game will have a lot of history,” acknowledged Stevens. “But the main thing for me is to not let the emotions get to me and treat it like another game.”
UE coach Jack Santiago, however, couldn’t be bothered with those talks as his focus is solely on his side for the 6:30 p.m. game.
“To be honest, I’m so disappointed,” he lamented after the Red Warriors dropped their opening assignment against University of Santo Tomas, 70-55.
Santiago didn’t mince words as he felt there was a complete lack of effort from UE’s supporting cast, with Precious Momowei, who only had 12 points and 10 rebounds as he played through foul trouble, and Ethan Galang, who shot 3-of-6 from deep for his 12 points, being the lone bright spots.
“At the end of the day, it’s more on the execution. We hit the target, we hit Precious in the post but the problem is that the guys who were supposed to hit their shots, hindi maka-shoot,” he said, putting focus on UE’s paltry 3-of-17 clip from distance.
That’s why in the eyes of Santiago, if the Red Warriors perform the same way they did, it’s almost a sure win no. 2 for the Fighting Maroons regardless if Stevens plays good or not.
“If we will play this kind of game again, hindi lang ganito ang ilalamang sa amin ng UP,” he said.
Meanwhile, National University and Far Eastern University shoot for their first win when they collide at 4:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs are motivated to bounce back after losing to La Salle, 78-75, but will have to do it without Mo Diassana who hurt his knee in the first quarter of that game.
On the other hand, coach Sean Chambers wants to see better performance from his Tamaraws after falling to Adamson, 59-47.
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