FEU head coach Nash Racela. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Despite losing three straight at the tailend of the second round, Far Eastern University coach Nash Racela still refused to look down on his team’s chances.
Instead, he’s choosing to look at the bright side following FEU’s 73-67 loss to La Salle.
“I can’t be frustrated with the kind of game we played today,” he said.
Drawing huge contributions from guards Axel Iñigo and Joe Trinidad on offense, the Tamaraws were in full control of the game until the last five minutes, where the Green Archers used a 13-2 push to steal the victory.
Suddenly, FEU finds itself on a precarious position, sitting at third with an 8-5 slate and in danger of missing out on a top two spot.
Racela, though, said that the Tamaraws should focus more on the things they can control rather on dwell on the team’s missed chances in the past three games.
“It was never in my mind getting a twice-to-beat advantage. If it comes, it comes. But by the looks of it, parang hindi eh, but it’s still fine,” he said. “Ang importante is we’re in the Final Four and just basing on how we played today, I know, though we’re at a twice-to-beat disadvantage, that we could compete and beat the other teams.”
What Racela wants to address, meanwhile, is for the rest of his team to feel that sense of urgency to help FEU on both ends, especially with the stakes at an all-time high this deep in the tournament.
“We need to get contributions from a lot of players. We’re not like La Salle or Ateneo na pag humugot yung coach, it’s automatic na may makukuha sila. We’re not that kind of team eh,” he said. “Pag pinahinga mo itong isang player, nasasaktan ka eh. Those things I think we have to improve on. I think that’s what happened in the endgame, na guys who needed rest, mga one minute lang, doon pa kami nasaktan. We’ll try to correct those things.”
And he gets to test those adjustments on Wednesday when the Tamaraws end their schedule against University of the East.
“We’ll try our best to win that game so at least, we get some kind of momentum going to the playoffs,” he said.