JERRICK Ahanmisi was elated with the opportunity of playing for Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2026.
Ahanmisi, along with Ralph Cu, Chris Koon, and Sean Alter, represented the Philippines during the competition and finished sixth.
When asked about the experience, Ahanmisi said it was second to none.
“I think it was really eye-opening for me,” the 28 year old said on Tuesday. “It was something that I never got a chance to do. It was my first time playing 3x3, first time playing international, first time on Gilas, so it was a lot of firsts for me and I just tried to go into it with an open mind.”
“I think for my first time, it was ok. But I learned a lot from it. And I learned a lot of things that I can also bring to the 5-on-5 gameplay.”
While he was happy with the experience, Ahanmisi said, of course, he would rather have Gilas 3x3 finishing with a higher ranking in the tournament.
“The only reason why I say it's ok is because we didn't end up getting a medal,” he said. “We got sixth-place in Asia. It's good that we moved our rank higher. We were No. 9, but now we're No. 6, so that was a good thing.”
“But obviously, when you play in tournaments or play basketball, you want to get to the top. But maybe just because it's my first time, maybe its just not the right part for me right now,” he added.
Laban, Pilipinas!
Also part of the experience was cheering on the Gilas 3x3 Women team that claimed a historic silver medal in the tournament after losing to Australia in the final.
“I loved it. I'm so proud of them because they played Japan to go to the finals. And then when we were watching them against Australia, everybody was just saying, (it was) because Australia has big girls and WNBA players. So we were just really proud of their performance and we're glad that they got the silver,” said the former Adamson guard.
As far as the composition of the national team is concerned, the Terrafirma sharpshooter is a big fan of the mix of players.
“We have a mixture of a lot of things. We have Ralph that can shoot. We have Chris that can slash and shoot a bit, and then we have Sean who can rebound and be a big man in the post as well,” said Ahanmisi.
Ahanmisi said he is more than willing to play for the country again after his FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup experience.
“I was telling my wife the other day that I really want to go back. Like even the next day when I flew back, I was like, I want to go back there right now. I want to play again. Because it's that fun," he said.
“And the crowd, the audience is just always so electric. The event is so eventful. There's a lot of lights. The hosts are great too. So the people at 3x3, they really make it worthwhile.”
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