ARMED with a five-game winning streak, defending champion La Salle is favored to roll over University of Santo Tomas.
But Green Archers coach Topex Robinson disagreed, convinced his wards cannot afford to look past the Growling Tigers.
“We all know that this season will be the hardest for us,” Robinson said. “Just like what I always tell these players, that’s what you get for being the defending champions. Every team will come out with guns blazing when they play you.
“Gone are the days that you are just going to blow by teams because there’s so much respect for you now,” he added.
La Salle’s resolve will be tested anew when it takes on UST today in the 87th UAAP basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Tiff-off is set at 6 p.m. with the Archers training their sights on hiking their 7-1 mark and regaining the No. 1 spot.
National University tackles Far Eastern University in the curtain-raiser at 4 o’clock.
The Taft-based five will go into the tiff on a high, having avenged its first-round loss to the University of the East with a 77-68 win last Saturday.
Robinson will rely on his usually reliable Archers led by reigning MVP Kevin Quiambao, Mike Phillips. JC Macalalag, Vhoris Marasigan, and Joshua David.
With a 4-4 card for fourth, the Tigers are eager to rebound from a 73-83 defeat to the University of the Philippines last Sunday.
The Pido Jarencio-mentored UST side will pin its hopes on Malian big man Mo Tounkara, Nic Cabañero, Forth Padrigao, and Christian Manaytay.
“Everybody who got a chance to get at us when we were younger, now it’s time for us to turn the table. I believe that. I believe we’re going to be a problem for everybody moving forward,” Tamaraws strategist Sean Chambers said after his squad edged Adamson University 76-72 last Saturday to improve to 2-6.
“We’re starting to see the light of some of our offense and some of our schemes. I just feel like these guys are just getting there and I keep saying that it’s going to take one of our older kuyas to get over the hill for the young guys.”
The Bulldogs are smarting from a numbing 68-70 setback to the Ateneo Blue Eagles last Sunday that dropped them to 2-6.
With the second half of the cage wars underway, expect all teams to bring their A-Game as the race to the Final Four heats up.
