MANILA, Philippines – Lyceum of the Philippines University is putting a premium on speed in the NCAA Season 95 men's basketball tournament, as it waits for Cameroonian big man Mike Nzeusseu to return to full fitness.

Veteran guard Jayvee Marcelino pointed out to coach Topex Robinson during the opening ceremonies that the Pirates are now the smallest team in the league, as they marched without the 6-foot-5 Nzeusseu who is still recovering from a fractured index finger.

Without Nzeusseu, the tallest member of their team is 6-foot-4 Rhanzelle Yong. Their best players, twins Jaycee and Jayvee Marcelino, stood a shade under 6-feet.

"Pag pasok sa parade, sabi ni Jayvee, 'Coach, tayo na 'yung pinaka-maliit.' That's what he said," said Robinson last Sunday, after the Pirates battled to an 84-80 triumph over Colegio de San Juan de Letran, one of the biggest teams in the league.

"Sabi ko nga sa kanila coming into the game, we have two choices. Either we lose by being the smallest team, or either we win by being the smallest team. So again the choice is ours," he said.

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The Pirates made their choice against the Knights. Without Nzeusseu, they battled the Knights – a team that features burly 6-foot-5 big man Larry Muyang and 6-foot-7 beanpole Jeo Ambohot – with their speed.

They forced Letran to commit 23 turnovers, and scored a whopping 32 points off of them. Despite giving up plenty of size, they owned the battle of the boards, 46-39.

"We might be the smallest, but what we have is the quickest team in the league right now. We’re focusing everything, every energy to being the smallest and the quickest team in the league, hoping that the teams will not catch up to our quickness," said Robinson.

"Wala kaming big man," he stressed. "We really don't have a big man coming into the game, and Letran is a big, big team."

"So that's the choice we took, and it gave us a win, and hopefully it's gonna continue to give us wins."

Robinson has no plans of rushing Nzeusseu back to action, as he wants his veteran center to be at 100% once he comes back. In the meantime, he has full confidence in the players in his rotation and the system that they have in place – one that plays to their strengths.

"Crying over not having our big man in our team is really not in our minds right now," he said. "What we have is a bunch of small guys and Yong has been solid, so we just have to give credit to all those guys who really poured in everything."

"We're a young team, also, besides being a small team. So there's gonna be a lot of challenges along the way but what's important is what's in front of us," he added.

The Pirates return to action on Friday, when they take on a new-look Emilio Aguinaldo College squad at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

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