The UP Fighting Maroons in UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball. Photo from UAAP Media. MANILA — University of the Philippines is off to its worst start to a UAAP men’s basketball season for the first time in almost a decade.
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The defending champions -- including head coach Goldwin Monteverde, team captain Gerry Abadiano, and veteran Harold Alarcon -- begged off from interviews after suffering a second straight loss on Wednesday afternoon.
The Fighting Maroons, following their 62-59 Season 88 1st round loss to Adamson University, fell to 0-2 in the team standings -- a first since Season 79 in 2016 when they went winless in their first three assignments
In that season, State U incidentally opened its campaign with a loss to the Soaring Falcons, followed by defeats to De La Salle University and University of Santo Tomas.
The Maroons eventually only won a lone game in the first round, and then went on to finish the year with only five victories against nine losses.
That season was their first erstwhile new head coach Bo Perasol, now the UP Office of Athletics and Sports Development (OASD) Director.
But things are different this time around.
Back then, UP was yet to gain its place among the UAAP’s powerhouses, with the Fighting Maroons not reaching the Final 4 until two years later in Season 81.
Today, State U is among the perennial contenders of the league and is coming off a championship run in Season 87 after taking down La Salle.
Another factor that makes UP different from its previous years is now having prized transferee Noy Remogat, the Season 86 MVP runner-up back when he was still with University of the East.
Unfortunately, the prolific guard so far is performing quietly for his new team, only putting up 2.5 points with 2.4 assists, and a turnover in two games.
The 5-foot-11 ace — who previously posted 16.5 points, 7.9 assists, and 2.0 steals in his last season in Recto — is also only shooting a total of 2-of-10 from the field in both games with an average of 14.5 minutes off the bench.
Remogat, like his game so far, also stayed silent following their latest loss.