MANILA—As Ateneo chases for a rare sweep Saturday, coach Norman Black wants his three-time champions to keep their focus on playing another superb defensive game.
“Sometimes it looks ballet almost, the way they play defensively,” Black said of his Blue Eagles. “Very coordinated. But we just have to keep on trying to make it better. That’s the most important thing.”
The Blue Eagles go for a perfect 14-game elimination run, which comes with an outright Finals berth, against an Adamson team they’ve tagged as the toughest among the field in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.
Game time is at 3 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We’re the top two defensive teams in the league, so we expect a defensive struggle,” said Black. “I don’t really see a high-scoring game. But we contrast in the sense that we are the team that wants to attack inside the paint, while they’re more of a perimeter team.”
Another victory by the Eagles will make them only the third team to pull off an elimination sweep after University of the East (2007) and University of Santo Tomas (1993).
The league awards a team that completes an elimination sweep with an automatic Finals slot and a thrice-to-beat advantage, which is similar to a 1-0 edge in a virtual best-of-five.
“We want to win the game, that’s the bottom line,” said Black. “There’s an incentive that goes along with winning, which probably could help us out a little bit because we could rest our guys and heal up some injuries. So it’s worth going for, it’s worth striving for.”
Cellar-dwellers University of the Philippines and University of the East aim to wrap up their season with a win in a 1 p.m. encounter.
Aside from spoiling the Eagles’ sweep bid, the Falcons (9-4) hope to make their playoff life easier with a victory that will assure them of the second spot, which comes with the twice-to-beat semifinal bonus.
A loss may still send the Falcons to a playoff for No. 2 with either Far Eastern U or University of Santo Tomas, both tied for third at 8-5.