Five months ago, Gilas Pilipinas suffered a huge blow prior to the third window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Ange Kouame, the country’s 6-foot-11 naturalized player, was diagnosed with a meniscal sprain and a partial ACL tear that made him miss the window and the Asia Cup.
Five months later, Ateneo de Manila University is still taking care of that knee.
“Speaking about Ange, people just have to realize that he’s not getting practice time. We have to really take care of that knee,” bared Blue Eagles coach Tab Baldwin after their 68-54 victory over De La Salle University on Saturday.
Kouame’s numbers this Season 85 have been up and down, to say the least.
In their previous game against National University, a 78-74 loss, the gentle giant was limited to just two points on 1-of-4 shooting.
Then against the Green Archers, Kouame was a plus-16 in 32:48 of floor time while dropping 11 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks, and three steals.
“The game that he played against NU, he didn’t practice on the day before and he had a Gilas practice the night before. We just can’t do that to him. He’s not the Ange that we have had in the past,” added the decorated tactician.
“Yesterday, he just shot free throws and then you see a guy that plays 32 minutes and plays with energy and looks much more like the Ange that we’re all used to.”
So the challenge for Baldwin and co. is to manage Kouame while still getting top-notch numbers from their main big man, who won Season MVP last May.
Kouame will not use the FIBA break as an opportunity to rest though as he will be with Gilas Pilipinas in the fifth window in the Middle East.
“It’s a balancing act because we know we get some diminishing returns in terms of execution and some of his efficiencies go down but we still have that big aggressive body out there on the floor,” Baldwin said.
