Gilas Youth will be playing two tune up games when the team arrives in Turkey for the FIBA U17 World Cup from 29 June to 7 July.

Head coach Josh Reyes told DAILY TRIBUNE that the national team will be facing Guinea, Egypt and a professional Turkish team to get ready against the tough competition it will face as the team leaves on Saturday.

Gilas Youth booked a spot in the U17 World Cup after a fourth place finish at the 2023 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship in Doha.

“The reason why we are leaving early is to have tune up games. It’s important for us to replicate the competition we will have there,” Reyes said.

“We do our best to prepare here but there is no way we can replicate the competition here. The only time we are going to face teams with that size and talent is when we get there.”

The Philippines is in Group A in the World Cup along with Spain, Lithuania and Puerto Rico as Gilas returns to the biggest stage in basketball for the first time in six years.

Guinea and Egypt duked it out in last year’s FIBA U16 African Championship in Tunisia where the Guineans won the title, 84-76.

Reyes, son of TNT Tropang Giga head coach Chot, admitted he wanted to have the team face-off against some European teams and even Canada before the tournament started but wasn’t able to due to time constraints.

“We wanted to play European teams there but they are arriving on the 27th so we won’t have time for tune up games anymore. So we just want to play anyone who is available,” Reyes said.

“It’s a shame since Canada wanted to play us since Chris Cheng, their coach, is a Filipino. But they will be arriving on the 27th so there won’t be any time left.”

Bannered by Irus Chua, Paul Diao and FIBA U16 Asian Championship All-Tournament Team member Kieffer Alas, Gilas Youth hopes to come up a good showing against the best teams of the world.

In the 2018 edition of the U17 World Cup in Argentina, the Philippines, bannered by stars such as Kai Sotto Carl Tamayo, Forthsky Padrigao and Terrence Fortea, finished 13th out of 16 teams.

Reyes said he is emulating the system by Gilas head coach Tim Cone to ensure that there will be continuity in the program.