Rhenz Abando and Ange Kouame lead Gilas Pilipinas roster for Korea tune-ups
Gilas Pilipinas announced its all-cast roster for the friendlies with Korea led by naturalized player Ange Kouame, Dwight Ramos, and newly acquired NCAA ROY-MVP Rhenz Abando, in preparation for the FIBA Asia Cup and the third window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers in July.
Added to the 12-man lineup are Gilas holdovers RJ Abarrientos, SJ Belangel, Geo Chiu, Dave Ildefonso, Lebron Lopez, Will Navarro and reigning UAAP ROY Carl Tamayo.
Also set to make his Gilas debut is Kevin Quiambao joining forces with the veteran Kiefer Ravena while his contract woes with his mother club the NLEX road warriors is still on-going.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas on Sunday announced the Philippines' 12-man lineup for the exhibition games slated on June 17 and 18 at Anyang Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
The last time the Philippines and South Korea played each other was back in June 2021 at the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers where the Gilas Pilipinas beat their rivals twice to sweep the tournament.
Most of the players in this window’s lineup were not included in the Hanoi SEA Games as they were playing for their respective college teams at that time.
This will be Gilas’ first games back in the court after a surprising loss at Hanoi wherein they suffered an 85-81 blow against Indonesia to end their reign as the kings of the hardcourt in SE Asia.
Calling the shots for the young squad is the newly appointed head coach Nenad Vucinic, who has been Chot Reyes’ assistant on the national team since February.
However, Vucinic’ coaching gig will not be permanent as SBP insiders assured that Reyes will be back on the job, even as early as the Fiba Asia Cup in Indonesia come mid-July.
Tags: #GilasPilipinas, #Koreatune-ups, #FIBAWorldCup