By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA–While he was already drafted into the PBA, Yukien Andrada still needs to play his final NCAA year with San Beda.
With the Red Lions among the top contenders for the NCAA title, Andrada is expected to still be in college basketball’s “grand old league” until sometime in November at the soonest or even December if they make the finals.
This means the sixth overall pick of last month’s PBA Draft will miss most of Magnolia’s games in the Philippine Cup eliminations, including an opening night “Manila Clasico” battle against Ginebra on Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
While it’s every Gin King and Hotshot’s dream to play in the PBA’s current top rivalry, Andrada is fine with missing his first shot at competing in such an atmosphere.
“Hindi naman siya masakit sa akin kasi my team, Magnolia, gave me the go signal to focus on the NCAA, and I’m really grateful for the management of Magnolia. Even coach LA Tenorio was telling me, ‘Focus on your NCAA career, and just come back for the PBA after our season,'” Andrada told Dugout Philippines.
The 6-foot-5 sweet-shooting forward is also grateful that San Beda head coach Yuri Escueta is letting him join the Magnolia practices from time to time.
“Coach Yuri is a professional. Actually, siya pa nga ang nagpapapunta sa akin sa mga trainings sa Magnolia, but I just really want to focus sa NCAA,” Andrada further said.
As he is already one game down in his NCAA swan song, a blowout win against College of St. Benilde on Wednesday night, Andrada looks to continue using his final year as an amateur to improve his grace under pressure ahead of his upcoming battles in the pros.
“For myself, I want to improve at being able to handle a lot of pressure and bring confidence after this season to the PBA. I want to win as many games as I can so I can have confidence pagdating sa PBA,” he further said.
However, the younger brother of former PBA player Yutien added that he is just taking his last NCAA year one game at a time without immediately thinking about leading the Red Lions to their second title in three years.
Interestingly enough, Andrada will still be up for some basketball with heated history on Sunday as San Beda battles longtime rival Letran at the Playtime FilOil Centre in San Juan City.
As a new chapter of another age-old sports-related rift, the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry, also looms on a Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Oct. 5, 2025 is fittingly tagged as “Rivalry Sunday”, and the biggest winner is the Filipino basketball fans.