Moments after the Philippines nearly pulled off a monumental upset of world no. 5 Serbia in the first game of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT), Gilas Pilipinas big man Ange Kouame made a rather bold prediction about his future as a basketball player.
"I think two years from now, I will be on top," he exclaimed to reporters.
The confidence is neither farfetched nor unfounded, even if his comments came just minutes after a seven-point loss against the powerhouse host team. The naturalized Filipino, after all, looked pretty much the part of a future national team star in posting 17 points on 8-for-15 shooting, six rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and a steal while holding his ground against 7-foot-4 Boban Marjanovic.
Six days after the Serbia game - five after closing out the OQT with a 0-2 slate no thanks to a 67-94 blowout loss to Dominican Republic the following day - Kouame did not backtrack from his remarks, though he did take a more reflective approach in reminiscing over what he thought was "a great learning experience."
"Having the Philippine jersey on meant a lot to me," expressed the 6-foot-10 center on Thursday's episode of The Game on One Sports. "I'm glad the result was what it was, but I think we could've done better. I hope we can go back and work on our mistakes."
Safe to say, Kouame was solid in his first tour of duty for the Philippines. In three games against Korea and Indonesia in the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, the former UAAP Rookie of the Year normed 10.0 points on 48 percent shooting and 6.3 rebounds in 20 minutes of play while going toe-to-toe with fellow naturalized bigs Ra GunA and Lester Prosper.
The 23-year-old maintained his efficiency even while bumping up his scoring by a bit in the OQT, tallying 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 1.0 assists in two games.
"I actually learned how to keep the pace of the game, to not drop my guard down especially in critical moments, and to be able to be present for the other guys," he said.
In a total of five games across two weeks, Kouame averaged 11.4 points on 48 percent shooting, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.0 block in 23.3 minutes - pretty encouraging numbers, especially given that he had to toggle between differing approaches of facing elite Asian and European big men throughout that run.
"For me to be able to guard these players that have a lot of experience is actually a lesson for me. Facing European bigs was different. They were [focused] more on ball movement. They know what they're doing. I had to have a different approach to those European players," he explained.
After all those learnings, the two-way big was glad to share that he already has a blueprint in mind for his future self: Marjanovic.
After getting a close-up look at the mild-mannered Serbian anchor's game, Kouame said he will try to emulate some of his counterpart's tricks, including that one-handed push shot.
"I tried to replicate that," beamed Kouame when asked if he plans to incorporate the Dallas Maverick's signature shot into his arsenal. "When he used his hand to block my other hand whenever he finished with the other hand, it's something that I've never seen before. I have to learn that."
Every game is a learning process, and for Gilas' man in the middle, facing Marjanovic was a necessary challenge in his constant quest to become the best version of himself.
"It's an opportunity that a lot of people don't really get. I was really happy playing against him. He was huge," shared Kouame. "I was frustrated whenever he scored on me."
"I had a talk with coach Tab (Baldwin) after the game and he said, 'Did you see what Boban could do? I think you could do that too,'" he continued. "Like I said, it's a learning process. You pick up stuff from other players and add it to your game."
Ange Kouame looks to pattern play after Serbia's Boban Marjanovic - ESPN Philippines
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