FEU head coach Nash Racela gives instructions to his players during a game against University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 78. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Far Eastern University may have dropped its season opener to La Salle, but the loss didn’t deprive the Tamaraws from making a point.
“It surprised me also. What it gave us is the belief that we can still compete this season,” said FEU head coach Nash Racela after the 78-83 loss Wednesday.
An entirely different team minus the core of their championship run last season, The Tamaraws weren’t supposed to drag the Green Archers, who are this season’s unanimous favorite, into a tense endgame.
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“Again, when you have a young team, you become unpredictable. I think compared to last year, we don’t have stability, going into a game, we knew that somebody will perform. This year, we have a young and inexperienced team,” said Racela.
There’s no Mac Belo to make big plays, no Mike Tolomia to create shots and no Roger Pogoy to hit big threes, but on Wednesday, these youthful Tamaraws had the whole team showing up to nearly defy the odds.
“I was really surprised today, they exceeded my expectations,” Racela said.
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What impressed Racela most was FEU was able to take La Salle’s punches and still found itself standing on both feet.
“The [biggest surprise was the] fact that we were able to compete against La Salle.”
“Going into the season, people talked a lot about their mayhem but when you look at the stats, they had 27 [turnovers] and we only had 17. They were able to see FEU’s version of a mayhem.”