HUMBLING as University of the Philippines' loss to Adamson two days back, the Diliman side knew that these kinds of losses would only build its character moving forward.
"Wake-up call sa amin yun," Carl Tamayo said of that 66-58 loss which snapped their eight-game win streak.
What matters more really was how the Fighting Maroons would pick themselves up after that setback, one that they answered emphatically with a 72-69 triumph over La Salle on Saturday.
Tamayo, who took that previous loss hard, responded with a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds against La Salle to show how motivated he is to redeem himself and bring UP back to its winning ways.
"Malaki yung na-learn namin dun sa talo. Wake-up call talaga siya sa amin. Di lang siya basta talo pero marami kaming natutunan doon," he said. "Tingin ko good start naman kami ngayon sa game. Sa training pa lang kahapon, alam na namin na may tiwala kami sa isa't isa at sa system."
Ricci Rivero, UP make quick recovery
Ricci Rivero, who ended up with 11 points, eight boards, and three steals, echoed the same sentiments and stressed the importance for UP not to deviate from coach Goldwin Monteverde's system to remain successful.
"Yung pinagusapan naming players, mas kailangan talaga namin magtiwala sa isa't-isa. Sino lang ba ang kakapitan namin during the game? Kami lang na teammates and coaches, so kung di namin masusunod yung system, it's not gonna work for us," he said.
Monteverde was also quick to remind everyone that the Fighting Maroons are still a young crew, and even if they sit at second place with a 9-2 record, they're still in the middle of a process in finding out their identity as a unit.
"I think since sa first game namin, we're very consistent on trying to find out what we need to work on. Syempre di naman agad-agad nangyayari ang mga bagay, may proseso yun," the coach said.
"Even against Adamson, after ng talo namin, nag-usap kami kung anong dapat naming baguhin and what went wrong. Siguro ang maganda lang dito, nag-translate sa game today. At least moving forward, mas nagagawa na namin yung mga gusto naming gawin ngayon."
Rivero also put these two-game stretch in retrospect, saying, "It just so happened that we have to fall sometimes in order for us to come back stronger, to be better, and to be more aware of what's happening."
UP will look to finish the eliminations strong against University of the East, University of Santo Tomas, and Ateneo in this coming week.
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