Gilas vs India in FIBA qualifiers on Sunday

THE national men’s squad goes all out against winless India in the third window of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup Asia qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Sunday.

Three days after suffering a 60-106 rout at the hands of New Zealand in Auckland, the team, now ranked 34th in the world, is back in Manila with hardly an ample time to prepare for their No. 82-ranked opponents in Group A.

The game is set at 7 p.m.

Serbian-kiwi Vucinic,—tasked to coach the team in the window, told his players to move on from that loss to the Tall Blacks.

“We have to eliminate the negative things that we had,” said Vucinic, adding that India will definitely be a strong opponent. “India is going to be another tough opposition, maybe not at this level, but they have experience and they have size as well.”

Gilas could play the Indians without 6-foot-7 Carl Tamayo, who posted 16 points and grabbed five rebounds against the Kiwis, sprained his ankle in that game.

“We have injuries and we’re shorthanded. We have a lack of size too. So it’s going to be, again, a difficult night for us, but we cannot play the way we played the other night,” Vucinic, he added.

Rhenz Abando and Francis “Lebron” Lopez are hoping to lead the Philippines again after finishing with 11 points and eight, respectively, against New Zealand.

Six-foot-8 Geo Chiu, 6-foot-7 Kevin Quiambao, Kiefer Ravena, Dwight Ramos, Dave Ildefonso, RJ Abarrientos, SJ Belangel and William Navarro are to step up against India, which hasn’t won in three games as against the Philippines 1-2 record.