OVER THE HUMP
There were a lot of expectations surrounding University of the Philippines way before Season 88 of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament started. Even if the Fighting Maroons lost three of the stars that helped them to the championship.
They also had a huge target on their backs, especially after snagging Rey Remogat the season before to take over the point guard chores from the graduated JD Cagulangan.
The Maroons took two early tumbles and Remogat looked like a dud in those games. Until Sunday when UP played like the defending champion that it is and Remogat showed glimpses why he could be the team’s savior this season in a 92-75 beatdown of University of the East at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Wins like this always feel like a positive, especially this being our first (for the season)” UP coach Goldwin Montevrede said with a mix of Filipino. “For me, more than the win, it’s how we played this game today.
“It’s understanding that we need each other to achieve something big.”
Remogat, meanwhile, was a big surprise in his personal break out.
Stuffing his stats line against his former team, Remogat finished with 21 points, 11 assists and missed a triple double by just three rebounds—certainly the biggest sign of rejuvenation for one of the most formidable programs in the league that also lost Quinton Millora-Brown and Francis Lopez after last season’s title romp.
“I just focused on what I should do as a point guard,” Remogat, who is tasked to do some heavy lifting this season, said. “I didn’t use (my former team) UE as a basis for me to play well.”
Remogat, who scored 18 of his total when the Maroons broke away in the first half, came into the game averaging just 2.5 points in his first two outings. Nigerian forward Francis Nnoruka backed up Remogat with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds, and three blocks. Gani Stevens also delivered a double-double with 14 points—all in the second half—alongside 10 rebounds and one assist.
Graduating State U veteran Harold Alarcon said Remogat’s breakthrough didn’t come as a shock to the squad at all.
“Rey knows how to handle these things. We just supported him and we got his back [after those losses],” Alarcon told the Inquirer.
“When I saw the defense that UE was giving him, we just told him to grab the opportunity to shoot every time he’s left open.”
Aside from Alarcon, UE gunner John Abate also wasn’t surprised at Remogat’s output.
Abate, who finished with 15 points in UE’s third straight loss, never got to play alongside Remogat. Despite not sharing the court before, both shooters had some offseason training sessions before Remogat’s departure for Diliman.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me. I’d say he had a little more motivation,” Abate said of Remogat, who was on the 2023 Mythical First Team.
Abate and the Red Warriors look to get their first win on Saturday, next week, when they take on host Santo Tomas at the Growling Tigers’ Quadricentennial Pavilion in España, even as the Maroons battle undefeated National U on the same day.
