Don’t expect any miracles this time

FACING a stern test anew, can the country’s young guns hack it?

That will be known today when the youth-laden Gilas Pilipinas five battles New Zealand in Group A action in the third window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers at the Eventfinda Stadium in Auckland.

The match is set at 3:30 p.m.

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Fielding an 11-man roster made up mostly of collegiate standouts, nationals coach Nenad Vučinić admitted they will have their hands full against the Tall Blacks.

“I believe that New Zealand is going to be very tough. I think they’re going to have their top team for this window,” Vučinić was quoted as saying in the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas website.

“They didn’t have their top team when they were here, when they beat us,” he added.

Spearheading Gilas’ bid is veteran skipper Kiefer Ravena, who will team up with Dwight Ramos, RJ Abarrientos, SJ Belangel, Geo Chiu, Dave Ildefonso, LeBron Lopez, William Navarro, Carl Tamayo, and newcomers Rhenz Abando and Kevin Quiambao.

The Filipino cagers, set to do battle without 6-foot-10 naturalized center Ange Kouame (partially torn ACL and sprained meniscus), will also take on India on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Gilas is determined to redeem itself from a 63-88 loss to New Zealand in the last window in February and improve its 1-1 record in a virtually no-bearing window since it already has a slot in the World Cup next year as co-hosts with Japan and Indonesia.

“We can beat New Zealand. We can beat India,” Vučinić said. “We have to play very well though, to beat them, especially against New Zealand.”

Vučinić said his charges’ fortitude will be tested against the Kiwis, who are carrying a 3-0 card, and expected to be led by Corey Webster.

“They cannot step back. They cannot go into this game not thinking that they can win the game. This is very important. But they have to also execute. They have to play within the system. We have got some talent that we can exploit, but without the system, it’s impossible to do that,” he said.

“So, they have to trust the system, they have to execute and then you know it comes down to the ability to adjust to what the opposition is doing because it’s high-level opposition, very good coaching staff.”