Double whammy for Akhuetie as UP absorbs 2nd straight loss

MANILA, Philippines – Highly-touted UP Fighting Maroons big man Bright Akhuetie limped to a 9-point, 11-rebound performance in a blowout 73-89 loss to the FEU Tamaraws on Sunday, September 23.

From the opening tip, the former NCAA superstar from the Perpetual Help Altas looked sluggish, to say the least.

If he wasn’t getting smothered on double teams, he was missing open jumpers and point-blank putbacks en route to a two-point finish in the first half on a terrible 1-of-8 (13%) clip.

In fact, he only scored 7 of his 9 total points in garbage time, where the game was firmly secured for FEU.

After the game, Tamaraws head coach Olsen Racela shared that stopping Akhuetie was indeed top priority for his team.

“Kasi si Bright, hindi pwedeng single coverage [defense] lang,” he said. “Magaling na player. Nakita ko na siya sa NCAA when I covered it. Nakakatakot pa sa kanya ngayon, he’s an all-around player now. And with the weapons that UP has, mahirap yung ganoong kalabanin. Maganda na na-limit namin siya, nalimit din namin ‘yung iba. Again, it’s a defensive game.”

(You cannot have single coverage defense on Bright. He’s a good player. I already saw him in the NCAA when I covered it. What’s scary with him now, he’s an all-around player. And with the weapons that UP has, it’ll be difficult to match up. It’s nice that we limited him and the rest. Again, it’s a defensive game.)

However, Akhuetie said that a right hand injury he got from practice had a lot to do with his dismal outing as well.

“I had a problem with my right hand, so I was just struggling all throughout the game,” he said. “My right hand was kinda numb in the game and before the game.”

“We didn’t really do a good job on defense,” he added, referring to the loss. “We lost on the slow start. I think we lost on the first half. We all did everything we did in practice. We prepared well for the game, it’s just about how we execute everything the same way we did in practice. It wasn’t really about Coach Bo’s absence. We should have been better, but we didn’t do a good job enough.”

The 6-foot-7 bruiser said he’d have his hand checked on Monday, September 24 – two days before the Maroons suit up again to face the undefeated Adamson Soaring Falcons.

An Akhuetie who isn’t 100% come Wednesday afternoon, dims UP’s chances so early in the UAAP season.

A 1-3 start doesn’t exactly read: “The future is Bright.” – Rappler.com