UNIVERSITY of the Philippines and defending champion De La Salle University begin their title rematch in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.
Game 1 of the best-of-3 Finals series is set at 5:30 p.m., succeeding the women’s championship series opener between the NU Lady Bulldogs and defending champs UST Growling Tigresses at 1 p.m.
It is likewise a title rematch for last year’s finalists in the distaff side.
The UP Fighting Maroons and the De La Salle Green Archers entered the Final Four as the top two teams, holding win-once advantages against their respective opposition in the semifinals.
Second seed UP booted out third seed UST, 78-69, on November 30 to advance to its fourth straight Finals appearance.
Top seed La Salle likewise maximized its incentive as it sent fourth seed Adamson University packing, 70-55, in their semis bout also on November 30.
UP couldn’t beat La Salle in the elimination round twice, but coach Goldwin Monteverde stressed that those losses hardly mattered in the championship series, where everything is reset to 0-0.
“Our goal is to take it one game at a time,” said Monteverde, whose team fell to La Salle first on Oct. 6, 56-68, then once more on Nov. 10, 66-77.
“We’re here, and that’s the beauty of the Finals; we start at 0-0. It’s a best-of-3 series. We’re looking forward to preparing and playing our best.”
The Fighting Maroons are determined to get back at the Green Archers, who beat them in last year’s Finals in three games.
“What happened last year, we really took that to heart in our practices,” shared Monteverde.
Meanwhile, La Salle coach Topex Robinson isn’t really a big fan of his team’s wins over UP this season, saying that the Fighting Maroons weren’t in full force in those meetings.
“What’s obvious during those first two meetings was, you know, UP didn’t have a complete lineup. I guess that’s one thing we haven’t seen. Going back to our FilOil meetings, they beat us twice. That’s one thing that we have to remember,” said Robinson.
“It’s about how we’re gonna be prepared. We know UP is always gonna be all-out, and they like to be the best that they can be. And this is just gonna make us better. It’s gonna challenge us.”
Leading the way for UP are JD Cagulangan, Harold Alarcon and Quentin Millora-Brown, while opposite them are soon-to-be crowned back-to-back MVP Kevin Quiambao, Joshua David and Mike Phillips.
