Justin Brownlee is preparing himself, knowing that beating a tough, physical team like New Zealand on the road will not be easy in the third window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Friday at the Spark Arena in Auckland.

The 38-year-old naturalized player said the Tall Blacks are tough nuts to crack, especially at home were their fans are expected to fill up the venue to provide a hostile environment for the visiting Filipinos.

Brownlee is obviously speaking based on experience. In his previous encounter with the Kiwis during the second window of the prestigious qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena last February, he was held to only four points on a sour 2-of-10 shooting that led to a 66-69 setback.

Now, Brownlee has a shot at redemption but he knows that beating a rugged team like New Zealand will never be easy.

“We know that they’re a physical team so we got to match up their physicality and understand how to play through that,” he said, knowing that their margin of error against the Kiwis is very slim since their next game against the taller, stronger and more skilled Australians will not be a walk in the park.

After all, both the Kiwis and the Aussies dealt them with back-to-back defeats in the second window.

With that, Brownlee stressed that they have to be ready and match up the physicality of the Kiwis to eke out a win that will boost their morale heading into their rematch with the dangerous Australians on Monday.

“We have to be aggressive,” said Brownlee, who is expected to draw support from big men Mike Phillips, Justin Baltazar, Carl Tamayo, June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu down low.

“No matter what they do as far as guarding us, we just have to be aggressive.”