Gilas Pilipinas head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes was not pleased despite his team’s 70-61 victory over Ukraine’s Under-20 squad on Saturday night at the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas.
The long-time national men’s basketball team mentor described the close win as his team’s “worst performance,” as they were expected to dominate against their younger opponents.
“If I were to rate it, I think this is the worst game that we played since the start,” Reyes said in an interview with One Sports’ Carlo Pamintuan. “I know this is the game that we won, but I believe there’s a lot more that can be desired from our team.”
Reyes said that his team had a poor defensive game against the “tall, well-disciplined, and well-coached” Ukraine U-20 team but admitted that the absence of injured Earl Scottie Thompson and Chris Newsome was huge.
“Of course, we came into this game without our top two point guards, so it was somewhat understandable given the circumstances,” Reyes said. “But there’s a need for continuous improvement and heightened performance standards on our overall journey.”
The two squads will face each other again on Sunday evening.
