UNIVERSITY of the Philippines hopes that things will go in its way to achieve one of its goals, a twice-to-beat Final Four incentive, as it goes up against National University Saturday in the UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion Arena.

The Fighting Maroons have won their last three games, and are sitting comfortably in solo second with a 9-1 record.

A UP victory in the 3:30 p.m. contest, coupled by a University of the East loss to Far Eastern University in the 12 noon encounter will give the Season 84 champions the twice-to-beat advantage along with holders De La Salle.

The Fighting Maroons hold a three-game cushion over the third-running Red Warriors, who have lost two of the last three matches to drop to 6-4.

As UP braces for tougher battles to regain the throne after back-to-back runner-up finishes, coach Goldwin Monteverde wanted to see his team in 100 percent shape and remained focused on the goals at hand.

“Expect na we would work harder to improve as a team. Dahan-dahan pa, I think we have four games left kung hindi ako nagkakamali. Each game would be a stepping stone for us to get better. Importante lang, we should be healthy as a team din in a way. Slowly, we’ll still improve,” said Monteverde after his troops scored a 75-47 win over Ateneo last Wednesday.

Things are in favor for the Fighting Maroons, who defeated the Bulldogs by 27 points, 89-62, in the first round. 

UP hopes to complete a head-to-head elimination round sweep of NU for a second straight season. The Fighting Maroons had an average winning margin of 20 points against the Bulldogs last year.

Sitting in last place with a 2-8 record, NU needs to sweep its last four games and hope that the No. 4 team won't reach seven wins to force a playoff for the last Final Four berth.

After an impressive five-game winning streak, UE struggled its last three assignments, highlighted by a 37-45 loss to Adamson University last Wednesday.

The Red Warriors cannot be complacent on the Tamaraws, who at 3-7 still have a shot of making it to the Final Four via the backdoor.

FEU bowed to University of Santo Tomas, 70-79, after opening the second round with a lot of promise by winning back-to-back for the first time under coach Sean Chambers.  The Tamaraws are trailing the fourth-running Growling Tigers (5-6) by one-and-a-half games.

In the women's division, NU shoots for its 10th straight victory as it plays a UP side trying to keep its slim Final Four hopes alive at 6:30 p.m., while FEU and UE collide at 12 noon.

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