Gilas Pilipinas against Australia during the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup quarterfinals. –FIBA PHOTO
Gilas Pilipinas’ quarterfinal exit from the Fiba Asia Cup at the hands of Australia has prompted questions on what needs to be done in order to improve the team, especially with the World Cup Qualifiers slated later this year.
Coach Tim Cone isn’t in a rush to answer those questions and will take a more deliberate approach toward figuring out why his wards crashed out early from a tournament that saw Gilas endure challenges that will require the coaching staff’s attention before the first qualification window.
“It’s too early to look and say, ‘We’ll, this is what we need at this point,’” Cone said after Gilas was shown the door by the Aussies, 84-60, on Wednesday at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“We got to really digest this. We got to look at video. We got to see what’s going on and go forward,” added Cone.
The Philippines got off on a rough patch in Jeddah, losing to Chinese-Taipei and New Zealand before getting some character-building wins over Iraq at the close of group play and host Saudi Arabia in a thrilling quarterfinal qualification game.
In the first three games, Gilas battled slow starts and played catch-up while also having trouble defending the three-point shot. Cone’s men did jump on Saudi Arabia from the onset, but had to weather the hosts’ terrific shooting late in the fourth to sneak out an overtime win.
But Australia’s quality came out in the quarterfinals, going on a 13-4 start, taking a 24-8 lead and ending the first quarter up, 29-12—a product of terrific offensive execution coupled with Gilas’ poor shooting. From there, the Philippines couldn’t recover.
“I didn’t think we stepped up as much as we wanted to,” said Cone. “No doubt that the Australian athleticism and length [were a factor]. Even though you see it on video, when you get up there and start playing against them, you realize that they’re very superior.
“So we just had a hard time staying in front of them, we had a hard time challenging their threes, they moved the ball really well and they got shots quick. We tried to keep it at a slower pace but we didn’t have enough discipline to do that throughout the game. And the Aussies did a good job defending Justin [Brownlee], limiting him to seven shots,” added Cone.
With the tournament over, there are plenty of takes around social media, particularly the makeup of Cone’s pool which has been very lean and practically since he took over as the permanent guy to handle the national team.
Whether Cone may entertain the prospect of expanding it remains to be seen, but the Gilas coach insists that there’s no way for the program to go back from scratch.
“We put this team together for the long term, trying to get them to grow together and get better. And if we’re just gonna go ahead and change personnel, then we’re all back to zero again,” said Cone. “So we’re gonna use this [Asia Cup campaign] and try to get some adjustments.”
Gilas will once again face Australia and New Zealand in Group A of the World Cup Qualifiers plus Guam, which is led by San Miguel Beer’s Jericho Cruz. The November window will tentatively put the Nationals in a home-and-home series with Guam before facing the two Oceania powers in February and July.
Cone is banking on Kai Sotto’s return as early as the qualification opener, which would be a huge lift for Gilas.
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“Hopefully we get Kai and that makes us a little bit more competitive,” said Cone.