MANILA, Philippines - DUBAI – Smart Gilas Pilipinas takes on an Al Jazeera of Egypt Wednesday, vowing to play aggressive against an untested team in the quarterfinal round of the 21st Dubai Invitational at the Al Ahli Indoor Stadium here.
“I don’t know exactly about African basketball, I really don’t have any idea,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman. “This is the first time I saw a team from Egypt, this is the first time, I just really don’t know anything about African basketball.”
Smart Gilas finished second in Group B with a 3-1 (win-loss) record, losing only to Al Jalaa of Syria, which swept its four games, to set up a crossover quarterfinal showdown with Al Jazeera, third in Group A with a 2-2 slate.
The other quarterfinal pairings pit Group A top seed Al Riyadi of Lebanon against Group B No. 4 Champville of Lebanon, Group A No. 2 Mahram of Iran versus Group B No. 3 Zain of Jordan and Group A No. 4 United Arab Emirates national team against Group B No. 1 Al Jalaa of Syria.