DAYS after challenging his own squad after a tough loss to La Salle, Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin couldn't be any more pleased with the response.
"I think 27 assists on 27 made field goals makes a pretty big statement," he said after the Blue Eagles' 79-52 win over University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball tournament on Wednesday. "That's exactly what we were missing in the last game. We were missing that eye for one another."
[READ: Ateneo vents ire on hapless UST Tigers]
Baldwin was the first to note the improvements that the Blue Eagles have made, but he stressed that these growth shouldn't end after one game.
"As I said after the last game, this is a process. This is a decision that people had to make, and I think that they took strides. It's not a decision that ends after one game either. But I think that they did, collectively, make a decision - that they were going to play in a different manner, regardless of the outcome," he said.
"Now they need to reaffirm that decision every day - practice, games. I think the fact that you're looking at these two guys and they have their heads down and no smiles on their faces, there's a determination now.
"As leaders in this team, if they demonstrate that, and they portray that, then the likelihood that it will be contagious within the team is much greater. We will benefit from it."
Even the players felt the relief as Ateneo immediately showed results stemming from the three-hour meeting they had in the succeeding training session.
"After the loss, the locker room wasn't really great. The practice after, we had a really long meeting, which we really loved," Dave Ildefonso said with a smirk. "It was just a great talk and we just pulled each other together and really identified the problems that we had especially in that game."
Forthsky Padrigao echoed Ildefonso's words, saying, "From then on, like what Coach Tab said, we really need to decide kung ano 'yung dapat naming gawin. I think nag-show naman siya sa game na ito dahil rin sa mga teammates ko. We just wanna be a better team towards sa mga next games pa namin."
Padrigao put up a career-best 20 points, eight assists, five steals, and three rebounds, while Ildefonso added 10 points, nine boards, and six assists in this Blue Eagles win over the Growling Tigers.
For Baldwin, however, it all boiled down to the players staying true to what is taught in Ateneo: of being a 'man for others.'
"One of the Atenean principles is to be a man for others. We weave that into the culture that we try to develop. We expect that of these young men as not just Blue Eagle basketball players but as Ateneans," he said.
"I think that's an extremely serious concept, in a world that demonstrates far too much selfishness. I think it's the right thing to do, to expect it of these players. And when they respond as they did today, I think that needs to be acknowledged, it needs to be applauded.
"And they need to understand that while the world might be out there looking for superstars, your best friends are looking for somebody to have their back. And I think we would all rather have a great best friend than fame.
"That's what I want of our team, and I think that we can, we've taken steps from the last game, and in this game I think we took some steps towards that. I'm proud of them."
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