‘No room for kindness’: Nzeusseu says Pirates need to be tougher next season
Mike Nzeusseu. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
If Mike Nzeusseu would have his way, Lyceum would no longer be nice guys next year.
“We need to be tough, we need to be more aggressive. There is no room for kindness from the first game to the last game. We need to play with a champion’s mentality in all our games. There is no room for excuses anymore,” he said after the Pirates bowed to the Red Lions in the NCAA Season 93 Finals on Thursday.
Lyceum failed to cap its perfect 18-0 elimination sweep with a title, falling to San Beda in their best-of-three championship duel, 0-2.
Nzeusseu proved to be the perfect complement for Season MVP CJ Perez, averaging 14.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in the Pirates’ Finals run, but the Cameroonian admitted that the Red Lions’ championship experience prevailed in the end.
“Championship experience was really shown in this series,” he said. “San Beda was different from the eliminations to the championship. They had the championship mentality, they were a better team. We need to go harder next year.”
One of the biggest difference makers this year was Donald Tankoua, who posted monster numbers of 22.0 points, 18.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist, and 1.0 steal in the titular duel to be named Finals MVP.
Still, Nzeusseu said that the overachievement is as a cause for celebration with how the Pirates defied everyone’s expectations.
“Nobody even expected us to reach this point. So for me, even if it’s a tough loss, I’m still grateful that we were able to get this kind of competition,” he said.
“This will only make us better, make us stronger, we need to learn and grow from it,” he said.
