Quiambao determined to shake off jitters after forgettable UAAP seniors debut

MANILA, Philippines – La Salle star rookie Kevin Quiambao made his long-awaited UAAP seniors debut with the Green Archers with a baptism of fire against the defending champion UP Fighting Maroons.

However, instead of churning out a performance worthy of the Nikola Jokic comparisons FIBA itself bestowed upon him, the Gilas Pilipinas prospect – to put it bluntly – tried to do too much, which eventually backfired as the Archers yet again wasted a big lead and lost, 69-72.

Quiambao was his own harshest critic after tallying a line of 5 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, but also a 2-of-13 shooting clip with 3 turnovers in 29 minutes off the bench.

“The start of my season was bad. I’ll just take this as a lesson and it’s a good thing that it’s only the first game of a long season,” the 6-foot-8 forward said in Filipino. “We have to learn from our mistakes and learn them for the next games.”

“I was really excited to play starting from warm-ups, and having that feeling to get back, it’s like being jetlagged from our high school season,” Quiambao continued. “So there, in my excitement, I wasn’t able to follow coach’s system. I had mental lapses in the game.”

Bad games are nothing new for rookies in any sport and the 21-year-old, who had a handful of inefficient, high-turnover preseason games, is no exception.

But at his best, Quiambao is already a national team-caliber “point center,” who can run fast breaks off a rebound and can either fire off pinpoint passes to open shooters or cutters, or create offense for himself in the post or from the perimeter.

“For me, I just need to calm down. Whenever I get the ball, I get really excited, which caused a lot of lapses. I’ll take note of those lapses and try to learn from them for the next games,” he said.

“I’ll figure it out, watch film, see what I did. That’s it. We’ll bounce back next game.”

The pressure is on once again for Quiambao and rest of La Salle as they next face a UST Growling Tigers team fresh off a 33-point explosion from sophomore sensation Nic Cabanero and a stunning 69-60 opening day win over the Adamson Soaring Falcons. – Rappler.com