CJ Cansino, after figuring in a controversial exit from University of Santo Tomas in 2020, found a new home in University of the Philippines but admitted that there is a lot to improve on as far as team chemistry is concerned.
In Cansino's UP debut, the 6-foot-2 swingman led the way for the Maroons and posted 21 points with five rebounds and three steals but his efforts went to naught after suffering a 90-81 defeat at the hands of reigning champion Ateneo in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 men's basketball tournament opener at the Mall of Asia Arena Saturday, March 26.
"For me, marami pa kaming kailangang i-work on lalo na sa chemistry (We need to work on more our team chemistry)," said Cansino. "Dahil medyo short time 'yong practices namin, sa mga future games doon kami matututo and doon namin mab-build up 'yong chemistry namin (We had short time for practices and we will learn in our future games and build up our chemistry as we carry on)."
Cansino was UP's go-to guy in the season's first "Battle of Katipunan" but big man Malick Diouf also made his presence felt by scoring 15 points with nine rebounds, two blocks, and one steal.
Gilas young gun Carl Tamayo also had a double-double performance of 13 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, and one block while Ricci Rivero recovered from his early slump and added 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
Cansino downplayed his explosive game and said he just believed in the system of head coach Goldwin Monteverde.
"Siguro sa akin lang sumasakto 'yong mga bola kasi tiwala lang ako sa sistema ni coach Gold (It just happened that I always have the ball but I just trust coach Gold's sytem)," said the former UAAP juniors' Most Valuable Player as a Tiger Cub. "'If makatira, makatira. Ikot lang talaga sa sistema and luckily pumapasok 'yong mga tira ko. Siyempre happy ako dahil park ako 'yong nakakahabol kami (I just shoot whenever possible but it all boils down to the system. Luckily, my shots went in. Of course, I'm happy that I was able to contribute in our late run)."
Moving forward, Cansino will face his former team UST on Tuesday, March 29 but the former UST captain seemed to be in a good place now and admitted that playing against UST is just like a "regular game" for the rest of the season.
"For me, wala naman sa akin. Parang wala namang big deal sa'kin dahil alam mo 'yon, we moved on (It's not big of a deal for me anymore. We moved on)," said the 22-year-old Cansino. "Okay naman kami ng mga teammates ko dati and okay kami ng UST and ng coaches. So for me, it's just a regular game na kailangan namin paghandaan katulad ng pinaghandaan namin Ateneo ("I'm okay with my former teammates and coaches in UST. For me, it's just a regular game that we need to prepare for just like how we prepared for Ateneo)."
In what was dubbed as the infamous "Sorsogon bubble" and the "España Exodus," Cansino was the first to exit the team in August 2020 as the likes of Ira Bataller, Brent Paraiso, Rhenz Abando, June Ascunscion, Mark Nonoy, Deo Cuajao, and Bismark Lina followed suit.
It also led to the resignation of Aldin Ayo as head coach of the Tigers, which is now mentored by Jinino Manansala. Lina joined Cansino in UP, Nonoy and Cuajao moved to De La Salle, while Bataller, Paraiso, and Abando transferred to NCAA team Letran and Ascunsion jumped ship to Mapua.