EVEN before UAAP Season 86 took flight, the Ateneo Blue Eagles underscored growth and experience as the central themes of their title defense with a young roster on deck.
And with two early losses in their first four outings, Kai Ballungay stressed the need for the Blue Eagles to pick up the pace in their learning curve.
READ: Obasa, Ballungay show way as Ateneo topples UE
"Anytime you get a W, it feels good as a team. But right now, I think we need to start putting together good performances from quarter one to quarter four. That’s where we’re struggling right now, but I think we’re gonna find (consistency)," said Ballungay after Ateneo's second win of the season.
"Like Coach Tab (Baldwin) said before the season started, this year is going to be a year of growth but I feel like we need to grow up fast and we’re gonna find ways."
Halfway through the first round of the elims, Ateneo's battlecry of executing its style of play with consistency remains.
"I just want some consistency and putting together good performances. We’re not going out there necessarily to just win the game but also playing to the standards that the coaching staff has for us and playing to the best of our abilities," the Fil-American cager stressed.
And for the Blue Eagles' title retention bid to gain any further traction moving forward, Ballungay thinks it's about time his squad walks the talk.
"The coaching staff is doing an amazing job, as they’ve always been, in putting us in good positions to win (in terms of) preparation. As players, we’ll take that to heart and play it to our game. We can’t be all talk and we need to put that into action."
Ateneo guns for win No. 3 in its fifth game against also-ran FEU at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday.
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