UNIVERSITY of the East Head Coach Joe Silva wants the Red Warriors to ‘hate losing’ for the remainder of their UAAP Season 81 campaign.
After another sorry loss to University of the Philippines, 81-94, last Sunday at the Arena in San Juan City, Silva said that it was the first time he saw UE play well since their lone win over Far Eastern University in the first round.
But still, a setback is a setback.
“Sabi ko, that was the best effort I’ve seen since our win against FEU but nevertheless it’s still a loss,” said Silva after suffering their eighth loss in nine games.
“We should hate losing. So whatever scenario or situation we are in we have to grab it, we have to want it more than our opponents,” he added.
The Red Warriors will battle the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles on Wednesday, 2 p.m., at Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
His team stuck at the bottom of the standings, the new UE coach once again stressed that there was no promise to reach the Final Four in his very first season with the Warriors.
All he wants to see from his wards is to put up a gallant fight until the end.
“Like I said, sa start pa lang naman ng season never naman namin sinabi na kaya namin mag-Final Four,” he said. “We just to keep on improving every game, compete and we’ll try to beat the teams that we can beat and then compete with the teams that are on top.”
For UE stars Alvin Pasaol and Philip Manalang, there’s nowhere to go but up as they have nothing to lose already.
“The effort was there, parang gigil na kami manalo, hindi na namin alam,” said Manalang, who flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in their recent loss. “Yung feeling namin parang nothing to lose na kami wala naman kaming pupuntahan kundi paakyat na lang.”
Pasaol, who posted 30 points and nine boards against UP, agreed
“Give na lang namin yung best namin, gusto namin manalo, lamangan namin yung standing namin last year yun na lang siguro target namin,” said the high-scoring bigman, who is eyeing to surpass last year’s 3-11 slate.
“Yung nakita ko (against UP) yun yung gusto ko yung lumalaban kami,” he added.
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