JORDAN Ngatai, Tohi Smith-Milner, and Taylor Britt are among the familiar names from the New Zealand side which will play Gilas Pilipinas in Thursday’s game in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers.
Tall Blacks head coach Judd Flavell brought in six from their FIBA Asia Cup 2025 team in Ngatai, Smith-Milner, and Britt alongside Max Darling, Carlin Davidson, and Taine Murray.
Also part of the NZ roster are Reuben Te Rangi, Tyrell Harrison, Alex McNaught, Keanu Rasmussen, Yanni Wetzell, and the debuting Sam Mennenga, as they seek their first victory in the qualifiers after losing their first two games to Australia by an average margin of 3.5 points during Window 1.
Ngatai, who recently joined Levanga Hokkaido to become the newest teammate of Dwight Ramos in the Japan B.League, torched the Philippines in that game last August 7 when he had 22 points on 5-of-5 shooting from threes in the Tall Blacks’ 94-86 victory.
Smith-Milner is also remembered for his performance against Gilas during the qualifiers February last year when he had 25 points and nine rebounds in the 87-70 win in Auckland.
Britt also had a huge outing against Gilas in that same game where he had 19 points and eight assists for New Zealand.
Another Tall Black who had a big night then was Te Rangi who chimed in 12 points and eight rebounds.
NZ will look to hand Gilas its first defeat of the qualifiers after the latter swept Guam during Window 1.
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