Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin during a UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball game against FEU Tamaraws. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Ateneo may be on the brink of elimination after Saturday but that isn’t stopping coach Tab Baldwin from staying optimistic about the Blue Eagles’ remaining games in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.

After absorbing yet another loss at the hands of Far Eastern University at Araneta Coliseum, 65-54, Baldwin admitted that while the Blue Eagles are “knocked down,” the squad has every capability to bounce back for their two remaining games.

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“We’re knocked down as a program and I have every confidence that we will respond and learn from the situations that we’re in. We will use it as motivation to grow in the future,” said the veteran tactician.

READ: Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin moves on from worst UAAP loss

“What happens over the next two  games is a lot more dependent on what every individual that’s in our program right now is capable of. It’s not easy when you feel that your hopes and dreams are slipping away from you.”

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Ateneo’s playoff hopes looked incredibly bleak after its most recent loss as it dropped to a 3-9.

For the Blue Eagles to even sniff a Final Four spot, they’d have to win their last two games and have teams above them lose all their remaining outings.

READ: UAAP: Baldwin says struggling Ateneo feeling the pressure

Even with that situation at play, Baldwin urged his boys to keep responding in the middle of adversity.

“It really boils down to what you, as a competitor, have in the fibre of your being and that’s what coaches are going to recall on with the players,” Baldwin said.

“That’s what we’re going to do to rely on one another and hopefully, in the short term, we can play these next two games at a high level.”

Baldwin was also pretty sympathetic with his young players in the Loyola-based squad.

“We’re in a very different position, which we put ourselves in. It’s a very disappointed dugout, out there. A lot of guys there have been successful basketball players before coming into our program.”

“Nobody envisaged the Ateneo Blue Eagles to be where we’re at right now but that’s the reality.”

Ateneo will be playing on two Saturday game days for the next two weeks, first facing University of the East at San Juan Arena next week then clashing with Adamson in the same venue the week later.