“Did you even know what you just did? You just did what people call a poster and that was your first dunk ever!” recalls Ben Mbala in his second version of the Green Journal on what he was once told by his former coach. Halfway into his much anticipated debut in the UAAP, Mbala has now experienced being in the midst of the DLSU-ADMU rivalry, the lights, the intensity, and the cheers that come with being part of it. In this installment of his Green Journal, the 6’7″ big man assesses his performance, shares about playing as a team, and talks about getting fans out of their seats with his emphatic dunk.
Facing the ADMU Blue Eagles for the first time in my UAAP career
Knowing that I’ve played against them, I think three times before UAAP [twice in FilOil and once in Milcu Got Skills], I can say that I was expecting something like that [the intensity and atmosphere]. I was expecting the game to be really intense, you know. The atmosphere was crazy and I was expecting it to be packed with a lot of fans shouting and screaming, but as a player you still have to get the job done and not mind the things around you, so I just try to stay focused. Despite some things that made us go crazy, I still tried to stay focused and stick to the game plan.
[I was] not really [nervous], because I trust my teammates and I think that playing as a team, we’re still as good with Jeron or without Jeron. It was all about playing as a team and sticking together. Good thing we were able to do that last game, and I feel we really played well against them [ADMU].
On having 28 points on 85 percent field goal shooting, 13 rebounds, and five steals
You know, when you play, you don’t have to put in mind that you want to dominate or you want do this or that. The only thing you want to do is stick to the game plan. Like I’ve been saying a couple of times, “Just stick to the game plan”, you focus on playing D [defense], rebounding, and running the floor. Things like that [statistics] just come easier to you even without you forcing it. It just comes natural for you and then you’ll be surprised that it happens. It’s just about sticking to the game plan and doing what coach wants you to do.
On finishing the alley-oop from Thomas Torres
Like what I put a while ago, run the floor. As soon as I saw Thomas and he got the ball, he looked at me—let’s say we’ve been working on that during our fastbreak drills, but I felt like he threw it a little bit backwards. So I wanted to go for the two-hands [dunk], but I felt I wouldn’t catch it, so I decided to go with the one-hand. So I extend my hand and when I caught it I was like, “Okay, it’s in my hands, just go for it”. I was just going hard and whatever happened, happened.
I’m not going to lie, I was surprised myself. I was like, “Woah.” It was hard to believe because even my teammates, they were like, “How did he catch that?” Everyone thought that the pass was backwards, and it just happened.
Get to know more about Ben Mbala through his previous versions of the Green Journal:
