FEU’s super rookie Veejay Pre had a much-needed breakout game at the collegiate level, firing a career-high 31 points against the UST Growling Tigers.
Twenty-four hours after La Salle’s Kevin Quiambao and Ateneo’s Jared Bahay produced their career-best performances at the Mall of Asia Arena, it was Veejay Pre’s turn to steal the show on Sunday against the UST Growling Tigers.
FEU’s super rookie finished with a career-high 31 points on Sunday as he led the Tamaraws’ gallant charge against the Tigers. In doing so, Pre became the first rookie to score 30-plus points since RJ Abarrientos’ 33-point explosion during UAAP Season 84 in 2022.
Pre also joins a club that includes Jeron Teng and Bobby Ray Parks Jr.. A rookie Teng scored 35 points in 2012, while Parks had a 32-point explosion a year before during Season 74.
“Sobrang laki [na confidence boost] kasi sobrang laki ng tiwala nila [coaches] sakin and kine-claim ko lang po ‘yun and ‘yung opportunity, minsan lang dumating tas ‘yun, ginagrab ko lang po. ‘Yun po ‘yung palaging sinasabi ng parents ko po sakin,” said Pre, who also pulled down 14 rebounds for the Tamaraws in their 70-79 loss against UST.
“Buong season kasi nagsstruggle po talaga ako eh. And ‘yun, kanina buti nakuha ko naman and hopefully sana tuloy tuloy na.”
But Pre had some extra inspiration coming into the game. Like everyone else, he was left in awe as Quiambao went off for 33 points against archrival Ateneo on Saturday.
On top of this, the big man reportedly idolizes KQ, which provided another layer of motivation to come out swinging against the Tigers.
“Ano po kasi, kagabi bago ako matulog, pinapanood ko po ‘yung highlights niya tapos sabi ko sa sarili ko, kaya ko rin kaya ‘yan? Tas ‘yun po,” the super rookie revealed.
Indeed, Veejay Pre more than came through with his 31 points. Along with joining an exclusive club, he only trails the MVP in terms of single-game scoring records for Season 87.
Pre also went 11-for-17 (64.7 percent) in getting his 31 points, which includes a 5-for-7 shooting clip (71.4 percent) from downtown.
“Napakalaking difference nang galing ka sa high school and galing sa college. ‘Yun, nagadjust ako nung offseason, andon ‘yung mga kuya ko and buti maaga dumating si Coach Sean [Chambers], naadapt namin ‘yung system niya and ‘yun. Process lang,” he said.
More than his breakout game, the 19-year-old is proud of his team’s performance against UST as they kept up until the final two minutes. It’s even more impressive, given that the team was struck with food poisoning the night before according to Chambers.
“[Jorick Bautista]…he had food poisoning. Same with Mo [Konateh]. It’s like the whole team pretty much. Got pretty sick yesterday, including myself,” Chambers said in a separate interview.
“Syempre masaya pa rin even if ‘yung mga kuya namin may sakit like sina Mo and Kuya Jorick…and at least lumaban kami and ‘yun, sabi samin ng mga coaches namin na wag namin isipin ‘yun and tuloy tuloy lang and laban lang kami hanggang dulo,” Pre said later on.
Despite fielding a total of six rookies, this batch of Tamaraws has proven to be a capable bunch of keeping up against their more experienced peers for Season 87.
“Proud na proud ako kasi lumalaban kami kahit mas younger kami and ‘yun nga, ‘yung process, palaging sinasabi nila Sir Mark [Molina] ‘yan and darating din po samin ‘yung panalo,” the big man said.
‘Different level player’
Having witnessed his growth, Chambers was least surprised about Veejay Pre’s breakout game. For him, it was a matter of when, not if, as the rookie adjusts to the collegiate game.
“If you’ve seen us in the summer, you know that that’s what Veejay is capable of doing. And it’s just a matter of him having a breakout game here in the league, but that’s what he’s capable of. Veejay is a different level player, and he’s just still getting comfortable in the UAAP.”
The first-year shot caller also lauded Pre’s work ethic, but acknowledged his need to be more assertive in the Tamaraws’ next games moving forward.
“Yeah, the thing about Veejay, he’s a very humble kid. He’s a hard worker. He works and he listens and he’s disciplined. He doesn’t quite have that mentality of like, want to be different than all his teammates. You know? As part of that, he’s got to be a little bit more of like, a take charge kind of guy,” he said.
“He kind of wants things to flow for him, but we’re trying to impress upon him that his skill level is that good. So he needs to be a take-charge guy and be able to help us get games for us at the end of the game like that.”
Much like his rookie, Chambers was proud of FEU’s stand against the Tigers despite the squad feeling ill from the food poisoning.
“We’ve been at every game and we’ve been battling all the way through. Some of our guys were not feeling 100% today, so no excuses…but Mo wasn’t feeling well today. Jorick was in the hospital until four o’clock this morning but he still came out here and battled today. So that’s what we want to be about, we want to be a team that’s resilient. We’re going to fight no matter what and no excuses,” said Chambers.
Banner image courtesy of the UAAP Media Bureau.