CONE BANKS ON HOMECOURT EDGE IN TOUGH GILAS GAMES VS NZ, AUSSIES

AFTER sweeping Guam to start the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Gilas Pilipinas is now bracing for the next two games against two teams that they are very familiar with.

The Philippines battles New Zealand in its next match on February 26, and Australia on March 1 to wrap up the Window 2 assignments of the World Cup qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

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The two games are still months away, but Gilas coach Tim Cone said that this early they are keeping a close watch on the two Asia Oceania teams.

"It’s a long ways away still but we have our eyes on it," said Cone.

Australia and New Zealand squared off during the recently-concluded window with the Boomers emerging victorious, 84-79, last November 28 in Hobart, and 79-77, last December 1 in Wellington.

The Boomers share the lead in Group A with Gilas on 2-0 win-loss records after the Philippines defeated Guam, 87-46, and, 95-71.

Gilas has become quite familiar with the Tall Blacks, having played them in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers and the actual tournament, with the Tall Blacks owning a 2-1 win-loss record in those games.

Australia, meanwhile, booted the Philippines out of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 at the quarterfinals stage, 84-60.

Cone hopes that the homecourt advantage would help in boosting the team’s chances of winning against world No. 6 Australia and No. 25 New Zealand.

"We know New Zealand pretty well. We played them a number of times. We played Australia in the Asia Cup. We know what’s ahead of us. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we’re hoping that playing at home, that’ll make a difference for us," said Cone.

Of course, playing and winning at home isn't a cakewalk either as shown in the Guam game last Monday where their opponents keep in step against Gilas Pilipinas before the host eventually pulled away in the end.

Cone hopes that Gilas Pilipinas will be able to show the same resiliency as Guam did as it faces two powerhouses in the Fiba Asia bracket.

"[Against Guam] was a little difficult because we beat them by a large margin there in Guam. We knew they were going to come back and play with a level of desperation. That’s a given. They played really, really well. All we did was kind of hold them off.

2025-12-02T16:15:04Z