COACH Topex Robinson of defending champion La Salle swore he is not under any illusion the Green Archers’ Big Dance clash with the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons will be a walk in the park.
“I keep on telling this that we don’t know what they will do. We don’t have control of what they will do,” Robinson said. “We have full control of what we’re gonna do heading into the finals. Iyon lang talaga ang pagtutuunan namin ng pansin.
“Sa amin just having a lot of minds to… together is really important. It really builds us and it just gonna get us through this championship,” he added.
La Salle and UP begin their best-of-3 finals duel on Sunday, Dec. 8, for the 87th UAAP basketball tournament crown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The No. 1 seed and twice-to-beat Archers blasted the Adamson University Soaring Falcons 70-55 last Saturday in their Final Four clash.
Also armed with a win-once incentive, the Maroons eliminated the University of Santo Tomas with a 78-69 victory in the semifinals.
If there’s one aspect that his wards have to work on, it’s rebounding, according to Robinson.
“If you’re gonna look at the stats (against Adamson) we got outrebounded. That’s something that was keeping us in the eliminations, that we were the No. 1 rebounding team, but we got outrebounded,” Robinson said. “So that means, you know, we still have a lot of work to do. It’s good that we’re gonna have a few days to prepare for these finals. We always make mistakes, KQ (Kevin Quiambao) mentioned about it. Mike (Phillips) mentioned it.
“So, it’s just another opportunity for us to learn and really experience growing in the finals. Only eight guys came from that last year’s finals sa amin, seven are coming in new. So, it’s something that could be a challenge for us heading into these finals.”
A crucial head start in the race-to-2 series is on the line and expect the combatants to show up with their A-Game.
