It's mission accomplished for the UP men's basketball team following a two-week training camp that took them to Icheon, Seoul, and Ulsan in South Korea.

"Our main objective when we went there was to come together as a team. I believe we did that, while also, of course, pinaghusay pa natin yung skills thanks to mga nakalaro natin," said head coach Goldwin Monteverde.

The Fighting Maroons trained and then played against the Seoul Samsung Thunders, Changwon LG Sakers, Wonju DB Promy, Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus, and Suwon KT Sonicboom from Aug. 20 to Sept. 2 in preparation for the oncoming UAAP Season 86. The camp was sponsored by JJ Atencio and STATS Performance Apparel and came on the heels of an earlier trip to Serbia for a separate two weeks of training.

State U is working double-time in incorporating blue-chip recruits Lebron Lopez, Seven Gagate, Luis Pablo, and Sean Alter to a core that features Malick Diouf, JD Cagulangan, CJ Cansino, and Harold Alarcon. Nine players from last season -- bannered by Carl Tamayo and Zavier Lucero -- are no longer with the team, triggering a reload for this year even as they try to reclaim the title they won in Season 84.

Now back in Manila, UP's build-up towards its next campaign continues as it turns its attention to a tune-up game against 2023 World University Basketball Series (WUBS) champion National Chengchi University (NCCU) on Sept. 8 at Copeland Gym in UP Los Baños.

The Taipei-based Griffins are fresh off an unbeaten run in the invitational tournament that included defending UAAP champion Ateneo, as well as top collegiate teams from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and USA.

"It's a good opportunity for us na makita pa lalo yung pinag-eensayuhan namin against a team that won the championship in an international tournament," said Monteverde.

Aside from that, the Fighting Maroons are also looking forward to playing in front of their fans from the UP System's Laguna campus.

"This will be a new initiative for us, no, to bring the UP Fighting Maroons sa lahat ng Iskolar ng Bayan, not only in Diliman. We want our UP teams to be close to all UP students and alumni's hearts," said new UP Office for Athletics and Sports Development Director Bo Perasol.