TOUGH tests from top teams from Chinese Taipei and Thailand will cap off the University of the Philippines' buildup for UAAP Season 87.
Just two weeks before they commence their campaign, the Fighting Maroons are already in Keelung City as one of eight teams competing in the 2024 Interleague Play from Aug. 24 to 31 inside the Keelung Gymnasium.
Coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes, State U has its sights set on getting over the hump with JD Cagulangan, Harold Alarcon, and Season 86 Rookie of the Year Francis Lopez showing the way. Joining the maroon and green, meantime, are Filipino-Americans Quentin Millora-Brown, Gani Stevens, and Jacob Bayla, as well as Nigerian foreign student-athlete Dikachi Udodo.
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"We are aware of the expectations, siyempre, and we welcome them naman, pero tayo naman, ever since, ang focus natin is getting better each game," said head coach Goldwin Monteverde.
Fighting Maroons' final countdown
Before their first game in Season 87 on September 7 at the Araneta Coliseum, however, UP's mettle will first be tested by Thailand's Bangkok University and Chinese Taipei's U22 Elite Team, Asian University Basketball Championship Representative Team, Bank of Taiwan, Changhua BLL, Taiwan Beer, and the TPBL team in the single-round robin tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association.
The Fighting Maroons will come home on August 31, right after finishing their third overseas trip in the preseason which also included training camps in Serbia and Korea.
State U won it all for the first time in 36 years in Season 84 and then finished with two silver medals in a row.
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