La Salle forward Kevin Quiambao during a game against Ateneo in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin has nothing but praise for La Salle star Kevin Quiambao after the reigning MVP led the Green Archers to victory over the Blue Eagles in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
Despite being hounded by the Ateneo defense, Quiambao still found a way to make a big impact in La Salle’s 74-61 win on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“Kevin’s just a really good player. He’s elite in terms of UAAP standards from what I’ve seen over my eight years. He should be mentioned in the same breath as Carl Tamayo, Thirdy Ravena, Justine Baltazar. That’s where he’s at, especially in terms of when you’re talking just about the Filipinos,” Baldwin told reporters.
SCHEDULE: UAAP Season 87 basketball
Baldwin, who implemented a box-and-one defense against Quiambao, held the Gilas Pilipinas mainstay to 4-of-14 shooting and only made one triple out of nine attempts. Quiambao, however, still finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.
“He doesn’t just score, he reads the game well, he passes the ball well, and he’s a leader in that team and we’ve already seen often this year both in preseason tournaments that in crunch time he has the ability to step up, so he deserves the respect he’s getting,” said the Ateneo coach. “When you play a box-and-one on somebody, that’s one of the highest signs of respect that they can get, and we were happy with it. We felt he shot 28% in the game, we felt we gave him a lot of problems, but he did those extra things, rebounding and finding his teammates.”
Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin during a UAAP game against La Salle.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
“That’s what a really good player does when their opponent tries to take them out of the game. So full credit to Kevin, he’s nothing but a real force in the UAAP, and he’s somebody that every team has to be especially prepared for,” he added.
Besides Quiambao, Baldwin also heaped praise on Mike Phillips, who energized La Salle with 13 points and 14 rebounds on top of three steals and two assists. Phillips was a big reason for the Green Archers’ dominance in the rebounding department where they manhandled the Eagles, 62-38.
“He’s a monster. He’s a monster on the boards, and he did a tremendous job,” Baldwin said. “ We had also prepared for the fact that La Salle’s guards have very good rebounding averages. Even in just a few games, they’re showing that they commit their guards to the offensive boards and if you don’t run on them, you know you’re not going to punish them for that, so you better be effective on the boards and we weren’t.”
READ: UAAP: Baldwin says ‘be patient with process’ amid Ateneo 0-3 start
“You don’t want to give up all the balls. In the end, it was a 63 percent offensive rebound percentage for La Salle. So that means one out of every two shots they got their own rebound. And that’s hard to win if you give that up to a team.”
Despite Ateneo’s worst start in a decade, Baldwin remained patient with the young Blue Eagles as they hope to enter the win column against the Adamson Falcons on Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“That takes time. So we have to really put the pressure on them to make that choice in the moment to focus on that, treated as a very important job. You’ll get some success in some way,” Baldwin said.