Adamson was ‘too relaxed’ vs FEU, but Pumaren not that upset

MANILA, Philippines – New Adamson Soaring Falcons head coach Franz Pumaren watched his team lose their first game of UAAP Season 79 to the defending champion FEU Tamaraws on Sunday, September 11. 

While the multiple-time champion coach isn’t glad that his team was “too relaxed” in the defeat to FEU, he also said that he isn’t that upset about their performance.

“It showed the component of our team, that we’re really a young team right now. At least it’s stage one already, that they experienced already playing a tough team,” Pumaren said.

After sticking close with the Tamaraws in the first half, the Soaring Falcons fell behind by 10 in the third period and played catch up the rest of the way. FEU out-rebounded Adamson, 53-34, and capitalized on 18 second-chance points.

“I can’t say [we were] too confident,” answered the 52-year-old coach when asked if that was the issue, since Adamson was coming off a blowout victory over UP. “Probably the better word for that is we were too relaxed. Relaxed in a way they tend to forget that we’re still a young team and the beauty of this is it happened in our second game.

“For me it’s a learning process,” he later said. “It’s up to the guys to accept the challenge.”

Despite losing core players from their championship roster last season, the Tamaraws clearly looked like the more experienced team on Sunday with better looks on offense and strangling defense which limited the Soaring Falcons to 38% shooting. FEU also had better production from its bench, 48-25.

“The thing about the line-up of FEU, it’s ripping dividends because of their stockpiling of players in the last how many years already. It’s very seldom you get a player from FEU a fresh high school graduate. They’re all mature already,” said Pumaren.

That kind of mature showing is what the former DLSU Green Archers coach wants to eventually see from his new team.

“I don’t think a while ago I saw the Adamson I had projected,” he said. “It’s part of being a young team and we expect that once in a while you get that types of game from them.

“It showed that we can compete with anybody, it’s just that players should realize that here in the UAAP, I think if we just play what we’re capable of doing, we’ll be okay.” – Rappler.com