The UAAP Season 86 bronze medalists UP Fighting Maroons continue to deal with Rookie of the Year Favour Onoh’s absence.
The UP Fighting Maroons are in the midst of an uphill battle, as they face the UAAP Season 87 women’s basketball tournament without last season’s Rookie of the Year Favour Onoh--who will miss the competition due to injury.
Even as they are coming off of a breakthrough year where they finished as bronze medalists, UP now has to deal with one of its biggest contributors missing in action.
From the first game, Onoh’s absence was apparent as they suffered a blowout loss at the hands of rival Ateneo in their season opener. But after scoring a break against the listless UE Lady Warriors on Saturday, the Fighting Maroons suddenly have a fire.
Speaking after the victory, head coach Paul Ramos said that even as Onoh’s absence has left a gaping hole in their offense, many of his wards are ready to step up to the challenge.
“To answer that very simply, it will show during the remaining games if we’ve learned how to win without Favour. But I’m happy that today, we were able to get the first win.” said Ramos.
“Talking about Favour, everyone has been inspired, preparing for this season. She’s a big contributor to our performance. But the nice thing about it, the upside of it is everybody is so motivated, so inspired that I feel that the loss of Favour will be distributed amongst these girls.”
In the victory over UE, Achrissa Maw was the one to step up to the plate with an almost perfect game of 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting. One of the veterans of the team, she accepted the challenge of facing the music without Favour.
“Wala kaming choice para pangatawanan nalang yung nawala na si Favour. So kung ano yung role na binibigay, kung ano yung role ko, kailangan ko lang pangatawanan yun, all the way. Yun lang wala akong iniisip na iba.” she said.
Still, Ramos admitted that there is still a way to go if they are to compete against higher placed teams like the UST Growling Tigresses and the NU Lady Bulldogs.
“Yes, we have been adapting to playing without Favour but we still have a lot to improve on so that we can really compete better against those very highly performing teams like Ateneo, NU, UST, even La Salle, and FEU.” he said.
Now with a 1-1 slate, UP faces their biggest challenge of the year so far when they face perennial powerhouse NU next on Wednesday, September 18. Though beating the almighty Lady Bulldogs once last year, Ramos is approaching the game with caution.
“You know, ang NU staple na yan sa women’s basketball. Whether we like it or not, kahit ano pang motivation sa team na lumalaro against NU, you can say anything you want before the game to motivate that this team is beatable, but I feel NU has earned that respect, that every time you play against them, you really have to be at your best.” said Ramos.
“So, for me… we don’t focus on them. We just focus on our performance. If we can outperform how we played last season, and plus plus more, because we don’t have a 20 rebounds a game girl in the middle, so hopefully we can get out with a win again this season.” he added.
UP-NU tips off on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum at 1:30 p.m.