La Salle head coach Juno Sauler during a huddle. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
De La Salle head coach Juno Sauler rued his team’s bad start in a stunning loss to University of the Philippines on Wednesday.
The Green Archers didn’t have the kind of start they would’ve wanted after they trailed by 13 at halftime en route to a 71-66 defeat to the much-improved Fighting Maroons.
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“Today UP came out like they really wanted it more than our players did. And because of that at the start of the game they gained the confidence that they needed,” Sauler said. “I think we just came out very relaxed, we could’ve started the game better.”
La Salle was coming off a 67-63 thriller over defending champion National University but it was a different Green Archers who showed up against the Maroons.
“We’re very, very far off. First we got the things that we need to correct, which are a lot of things,” Sauler pointed out.
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Raring to bounce back, it doesn’t get any easier for the Archers who will play the Far Eastern University Tamaraws next on Sunday.
“We never talked about FEU. Maybe the two-day prep after playing Sunday, after facing a tough team like NU, and then just two days to prepare for UP. And their style is totally different from NU. It’s good that we have three days to prepare for FEU, maybe that will help us.