Title-favorite Ateneo not looking ahead: ‘Each game is important to us’

There’s no stopping Ateneo from going back to the promised land even though it’s this early into the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament.

Star forward Thirdy Ravena said their 74-70 opening game loss to Adamson University was a hard pill to take especially since they treat every one of their games as a championship match.

It was a huge sigh of relief for the Blue Eagles when they notched their first win of Season 81 after edging University of the Philippines, 87-79, Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“We treated the day after the finals as the start of our season and everything we did from that time culminated in the UAAP,” said Ravena in Filipino. “Each game is important to us and we’ll take one game at a time.”

Ravena added that everyone knows the pressure that comes from being the defending champion and that all teams will do everything in their power to bring them down.

And that’s what the Soaring Falcons did to them in the season-opening weekend.

“We have to expect that every game we will have targets on our backs, we should always be ready for that and we have to face the challenge,” said Ravena, who had 17 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists against the Maroons.