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UAAP: Baldwin admits UP loss is 'on me' after making tactical errors

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The Ateneo Blue Eagles react after losing to the UP Fighting Maroons in their UAAP Season 84 second round game. UAAP Media." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/sports/05/02/uaap-84-mbb-admu-vs-up-dave-ildefonso-9354.jpg"/><figcaption>The Ateneo Blue Eagles react after losing to the UP Fighting Maroons in their UAAP Season 84 second round game. UAAP Media.</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA, Philippines -- Ateneo de Manila University&#x27;s loss to the University of the Philippines (UP) is a &quot;humbling experience&quot; for their entire organization, even as head coach Tab Baldwin made himself accountable for the result of the game.Ateneo saw its four-year winning streak come to an end on Sunday night with an 84-83 loss to the Fighting Maroons in front of over 10,000 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Blue Eagles were eyeing 40th straight win since October 2018, as well as a sweep of the UAAP Season 84 elimination round which would have given them an outright finals spot. Instead, the Fighting Maroons overwhelmed them in the first quarter and showed greater composure down the stretch to pull off the upset.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/01/22/uaap-up-denies-ateneo-elimination-round-sweep">GAME RECAP: UP denies Ateneo elimination round sweep</a></li></ul>After their defeat, Baldwin said it was a &quot;great game of basketball&quot; and credited the Fighting Maroons for their impressive start, which saw them take a 27-13 lead after the opening frame.&quot;I made some tactical mistakes early, and that hurt us. It contributed to digging a hole for our team, and UP was really ready. They played really well early. They hit shots,&quot; Baldwin explained.The Blue Eagles used a zone defense to open the game but the Maroons responded with long-range shots from James Spencer and Carl Tamayo to surge to an early advantage. Their hot start gave UP not only momentum, but confidence as well and they carried it all the way to the end.&quot;It was just a case of trying to dig out of that hole right throughout the game, and we climbed out of it a couple of times. But it was two teams, at that point, that were playing really hard and desperate basketball,&quot; Baldwin said. The Blue Eagles managed to snatch the lead in the second half and were up by four points with four minutes to go, 81-77. But a big three-pointer by Spencer, plus the go-ahead free throws by Ricci Rivero with under 30 seconds left pushed the Fighting Maroons on top. Ateneo&#x27;s final possession didn&#x27;t go as planned. SJ Belangel&#x27;s potential game-winning three-pointer missed its mark and Malick Diouf controlled the rebound to essentially seal the win for UP.&quot;UP just made bigger shots. The shot James Spencer made was a huge shot, and you gotta really give Diouf a lot of credit for the game he played,&quot; said Baldwin. &quot;He was outstanding around the basket, and Ange [Kouame] was too. But at the end of the day, we let Diouf have a little bit too much room and space, and it hurt us. It cost us.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/02/22/uaap-coach-proud-to-see-up-stick-together-vs-ateneo">READ: Coach proud to see UP stick together vs. Ateneo</a></li></ul><div>&#x27;Humbling experience&#x27; </div>Baldwin&#x27;s tactical brilliance and international experience in basketball have been credited with leading Ateneo to great success over the past half decade. But on Sunday, the head coach acknowledged that the decisions he made against UP &quot;didn&#x27;t pan out very well,&quot; particularly early on.Using a zone defense against UP&#x27;s starting five, in particular, backfired. &quot;Spencer hit a shot, Diouf got rebounds, so the very things that we hoped wouldn&#x27;t happen, happened,&quot; Baldwin said.Their failure to get stops adversely affected their offense. The Blue Eagles entered the game as the top-rated offensive team in the UAAP, but they couldn&#x27;t get going against UP and were clearly frustrated at points in the game. &quot;We just didn&#x27;t get into a good rhythm early in the game offensively. It took us quite a while, actually,&quot; said Baldwin. &quot;I think that accounted for their big start, and you know, that&#x27;s coaching. That&#x27;s life. &quot;&quot;I made decisions and they didn&#x27;t pan out very well early in the game, and you know, that&#x27;s the way it is,&quot; he added. &quot;This is a good humbling experience for all of our organization, for me, for the team.&quot;&quot;I told the team after the game, I said in large part, this loss was on me. So, I mean, they gotta play better too, but that&#x27;s just the way it is,&quot; he added.Baldwin pointed out that the Blue Eagles will have to move past the loss quickly: their season did not end with the defeat to UP, and instead they will take on Far Eastern University on Wednesday in the Final 4. Ateneo has a twice-to-beat advantage and just needs one win to advance to the UAAP finals for the fifth season in a row.&quot;You don&#x27;t win &#x27;em all. It&#x27;s not a question of if you can&#x27;t win &#x27;em all -- you can. But nobody ever has,&quot; said Baldwin. &quot;So the truth is you don&#x27;t win &#x27;em all. And now it&#x27;s just a case of regrouping and bouncing back, getting ready for a tough FEU team.&quot;<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2020222" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Ateneo's loss to the UP is a 'humbling experience' for their entire organization, even as Tab Baldwin made himself accountable for the result of the game.

UAAP: Baldwin admits UP loss is 'on me' after making tactical errors

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UAAP: Baldwin admits UP loss is 'on me' after making tactical errors

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 02, 2022 02:50 PM PHT

Read More:

basketball

UAAP

UAAP Season 84

UP Fighting Maroons

Ateneo Blue Eagles

Tab Baldwin

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