Games today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

4:30 p.m. — NU vs UST

6:30 p.m. — Ateneo vs Adamson

Ateneo de Manila University head coach Tab Baldwin is not pressing the panic button yet despite being in unfamiliar territory — lumbering at the bottom of the standings — winless in three tries.

Given longer preparation time, the mentor is confident the Blue Eagles will turn their fortunes around squaring off with Adamson University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 men’s basketball tournament today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Tipoff time is at 6:30 p.m. following the curtain-raiser between National University (NU) and University of Santo Tomas (UST) at 4:30 p.m.

Baldwin felt his rebuilding Ateneo crew had a hard time adjusting and recovering after playing three games in nine days as it fell to its worst start in 11 years.

In that stretch, the Blue Eagles bowed to University of the Philippines, UST and defending champion De La Salle University — all by double-digit margins.

“We just got to get the win-loss record on the rails now. It was a pretty brutal start to the season, the schedule we had, but that’s the way it is. You’ve got to play them sometime,” Baldwin said.

“So, it just doesn’t look very good right now, it’s awful at 0-3, but you know we just believe that now we’ve got that stretch of the schedule out of the way we’ve got a week to prepare for Adamson. So, we have to do a really good job because Adamson showed off what they’re capable of.”

Baldwin is optimistic about the return of his veteran Chris Koon after missing two games including the Blue Eagles’ 74-61 loss to the Green Archers last Sunday due to a left ankle injury he sustained in the season-opener.

Koon’s absence left Ateneo without a glue guy to keep the team together down the stretch.

“I think the biggest change we’ll see this week is we should get Chris back,” Baldwin said.

“He’s still got some soreness, but he’s responded well. He’s got stability in the ankle. That extra body, that extra veteran minutes will pay dividends for us,” added the mentor on the possible comeback of Koon to guide rookie Jared Bahay, Shawn Tuano, Andrew Bongo and other vets Sean Quitevis and Joshua Lazaro.

But beating the Falcons is no easy task.

Adamson is coming off a 69-56 crushing of the Growling Tigers last Sunday in a strong bounce back following a 30-point beating at the hands of La Salle.

The Falcons are tied with UST with 2-1 win-loss cards.

Adamson coach Nash Racela reminds his players to approach the game with caution as Ateneo despite its current situation is still a very dangerous team.

“We always tell them not to get too excited with the result they got today because moving forward, it’s going to be a different ballgame when we play in our next game,” Racela said.

“There’s this tendency of getting complacent and then all of a sudden, in the next game you face a tough team. Hopefully, they learn from that La Salle experience. We should prepare better moving forward.”

Monty Montebon, Royce Mantua, Anthony Fransman, Matt Erolon and Joshua Yerro are expected to deliver the same performance they had the last time to bring down the listless Blue Eagles.

Meanwhile, UST and NU are both looking to rebound after absorbing sorry losses.

The Tigers saw their two-game win-streak snapped while the Bulldogs received an 89-62 whipping at the hands of the unbeaten league-leading Fighting Maroons last Wednesday.

NU is tied with University of the East with a 1-2 slate.

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