UST’s Karim Abdul still recovering from knee surgery in April

MANILA, Philippines – The UST Growling Tigers are off to a 5-1 start in the UAAP Season 78 senior’s basketball tournament after dominating the De La Salle Green Archers on Wednesday, September 30. 

Their record has them currently tied with the FEU Tamaraws for the top seed in the league standings, but there’s a possibility University of Sto. Tomas will still get better once their starting big man gets even healthier.

Following his team’s win against La Salle, fifth-year veteran Karim Abdul told the media that he actually had surgery on his left knee just months ago.

“I still haven’t yet fully recovered from the operation that I had,” Abdul said after scoring 13 points and grabbing 13 boards in the win. [It was] surgery on my (left) knee. So, I’m still working on it. It was bone spurs. I had it last April.”

Abdul hasn’t been as productive as UST fans grew accustomed to seeing out of him over the past few seasons. A lot of that is because more shots are now distributed to the likes of Kevin Ferrer and Ed Daquioag, but also because Abdul is still working himself back into game shape.

“I still have some tight muscles, so I’m working on releasing and strengthening and other stuff,” he said.

UST, which won just 5 games last UAAP season, had their 2014 campaign end early as they missed the Final Four round, but it still took months after that for Abdul to have the operation on his knee.

“Actually, the problem is we were kind of slow to detect what was wrong, so when our strengthening coach finally realized what was the problem, that’s when he changed my workout and all that stuff,” said Abdul, who’s averaging 9.7 points and 8.3 rebounds a game this season. 

Last season, he put up 14.4 points and 9.2 rebounds a game, making it to the league’s Mythical Team selection.

“So that’s the problem. That’s the thing actually. We’re getting to it. I hope by Final Four, I’ll be a hundred percent.”

His head coach Bong Dela Cruz echoed the same thought, saying, “Wala pa sa 100% si Karim talaga,” during the post-game press conference, where he, Ferrer, and Daquioag joked about their big man teammate being at 75% and 85% shape right now.

(Karim’s really not yet at a 100%.)

Nonetheless, UST hasn’t needed Abdul to produce at a high level this season yet. Other than the Green Archers, they’ve also defeated the Blue Eagles, Tamaraws, Fighting Maroons, and Soaring Falcons. 

Their lone defeat has come against the defending champion NU Bulldogs, in a game where they led by 8 in the fourth quarter.

UST closes their first round against the 2-4 UE Red Warriors on Wednesday, October 7.

“Hindi pa tapos yung first round, so we’ll keep on improving. Every game, every day, every practice, kailangan nag i-improve kami,” Dela Cruz said.

(The first round isn’t over yet, so we’ll keep on improving. Every game, every day, every practice, we need to be improving.) – Rappler.com