The UP Fighting Maroons remain in fifth gear in the UAAP Season 89 Men’s Basketball Tournament after thumping the Adamson Soaring Falcons in the waning minutes, 82-70, to keep a firm grip on the first seed on Wednesday, November 5, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
After once again being fielded as their Foreign Student-Athlete, Dikachi Ududo repaid the coaches’ trust by dropping a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds on a perfect 4-for-4 clip from the field, boosting the Katipunan-based squad to an 8-2 win-loss slate.
The Season 87 champion turned to his faith in God for boosting him with confidence in a near-career-best performance, highlighted by a two-handed slam in the final period to put the game away.
“A lot of this just comes from faith in action. It’s just honestly my faith. I really need to make good decisions, like not giving up. Showing up even when it seems like there’s no hope, so call it faith in action,” Ududo said postgame. “I can’t control the coaches’ options for who to play. The only thing I can control is myself and how hard I work, and where I put my confidence. That’s basically all I have to do, just put my confidence in God and just work hard,” he added.
Ududo Embraces Role in UP Core
Despite the double-digit performance, Ududo continued to embrace his role as a non-scorer for UP but stays ready to provide the Fighting Maroons with offense whenever needed, as well as crashing the boards.
“It’s just roles. We have Noy [Remogat], we have Veejay [Pre]. Those guys, they’re the scorers. I feel like I’m doing a really good job of just accepting my role. When they give me the chance to score or call a play for me, I just take it, but I just accept my role,” Ududo said. “Just reading where the ball is going and just trying to find good position. I just won’t stop,” he added.
With only four games left in the eliminations, Ududo lauded the team’s performance at this stage of the season but called for more consistency from State U, underscoring the importance of cleaning up their errors in their last few outings before making another bid for the title.
“I’ll humbly say we’re doing a good job right now, we just have to be able to be more consistent and sustain. All those fractions of the game today, we’re kinda losing it, we can’t really afford to do that. Basically, it’s just gonna be consistency from here,” Ududo said.
The Maroons will look to extend their winning streak when they face their neighboring rivals, the Ateneo Blue Eagles, on Saturday, November 7, at the same venue.
