Adamson coach Franz Pumaren warned his team from getting carried away from all the attention surrounding the Falcons’ unbeaten start in UAAP Season 81.
As the Falcons shoot for a fifth straight victory on Saturday against the National U Bulldogs at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan, Pumaren was quick to remind his players that they are far from achieving their goal this season.
“I’ve been telling them 3-0 is nothing, 4-0 is nothing,” said Pumaren after the Falcons survived the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 69-68, on a last-second shot by Sean Manganti.
“We were probably reading too much about social media that we’re so great already. Probably if we win the championship we can start acting that way but the way we played (against UP), it felt like we were thinking of highly of ourselves.”
Manganti will be a marked man despite enduring a roller-coaster campaign so far.
Nursing a foot injury, the reed-thin forward pumped in 27 points against University of the East, went scoreless against University of Santo Tomas and fired 18 points including the game winner against UP.
The Falcons face a different type of challenge against a young, rebuilding NU team that is looking to bounce back from a 46-72 drubbing at the hands of Ateneo last Saturday.
The Bulldogs are bannered by rookie sensation Dave Ildefonso, who is looking to bounce back after he was held to just four points on 2-of-8 shooting by the Eagles. Ildefonso averaged 17.5 points in his first two games this season.
Defending champion Ateneo seeks a fourth straight victory as it collides with UST in the second game at 4 p.m.
The Eagles, who made light work of the Warriors on Wednesday, aim for a fourth win in five games against the Tigers, who dropped a 71-79 decision to the Falcons last Saturday, after splitting their first two games of the season.