PASAY CITY (Philippines) - The Philippines can book themselves a spot in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers' Second Round should they take care of business against New Zealand on Thursday.
How can the Philippines Qualify?
Gilas can advance right during the Second Window's opening gameday with a win against the Tall Blacks, a favorable position they earned after blowing out Guam twice back in the opening window last November.
As it stands, Coach Tim Cone & Co. are sitting atop Group A with a clean 2-0 record, and are bound to face a team that's coming in without a win yet as they got swept by Davo Hickey and Australia the last time out.
Can the Filipino dribblers get the job done?
Head-to-head
Year | Competition | Winning team | Final score |
|---|---|---|---|
2025 | FIBA Asia Cup | New Zealand | 94-86 |
2025 | FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers | New Zealand | 87-70 |
2024 | FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers | Philippines | 93-89 |
2022 | FIBA Asia Cup | New Zealand | 92-75 |
2022 | FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers | New Zealand | 106-60 |
2022 | FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers | New Zealand | 88-63 |
2016 | FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments | New Zealand | 89-80 |
Looking at their head-to-head matchups, New Zealand clearly have the advantage. The Oceania powerhouse has won six times in their seven encounters, including twice during the previous World Cup Qualifiers.
Homecourt edge
That sure doesn't look promising, given as well the manner in which they've lost. But the Philippines have already shown that they could flip the script, too - just as they did during the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
In what was the two teams' fifth meeting at the time, Gilas sent shockwaves by pulling off a thrilling 93-89 escape, marking the first time ever that they beat the Tall Blacks in a major FIBA competition.
That happened before an electric crowd of 11,000-plus at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, which will also be the venue of their highly anticipated rematch. Will homecourt advantage be of help once again?
Who are in?
While playing at home could offer a glimmer of hope, it sure is going to be a challenging game ahead for the Philippines as they won't have Kai Sotto, who returned to action just recently from an ACL tear.
The 2.21 M (7'3") center starred in that massive upset back in November of 2024, tallying 19 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assist, 1 steal, and 2 blocks as New Zealand struggled to put him on lock.
But he hasn't been around since due to the knee injury and it's pretty evident how big of a loss he is when they dropped their next two meetings, with the latest a 94-86 decision in the last Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Without him, the responsibility to man the paint will fall on Quentin Millora-Brown and AJ Edu, and so it would be interesting to see how the young pros would fare against another rising big in Sam Mennenga.
The backcourt matchup would also be as intriguing, with Chris Newsome and Scottie Thompson likely tasked to defend their counterparts headed by Taylor Britt, who gave them the fits in the last Asia Cup.
There, Britt fired 19 points and 8 assists but he won't just be what Gilas should worry about. That game saw Jordan Ngatai star with 22 points, and so it would be on wings like Dwight Ramos to try and at least limit him.
Potential new faces that could see action on the February 26 bout, meanwhile, are Juan Gomez de Liano and Justine Baltazar for the Philippines and first-timer Keanu Rasmussen for New Zealand.
And so, those pieces could bring in fresh dimensions for their respective teams - provided, of course, that the comebacking tandem makes it to their final 12 - that could very well make the game all the more exciting.
The Gilas-Tall Blacks game is set this Thursday at 19:30 local time.
FIBA