MANILA, Philippines—Coach Tim Cone and Gilas Pilipinas packed a lot of things for their trip to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup.

They also made sure they brought their never-say-die mindset with them.

READ: Gilas shoots for Fiba Asia Cup quarters berth vs host Saudi Arabia

Gilas Pilipinas may have dropped two of its first three games in the continental meet, but even in the losses, the squad displayed its no-quit mentality.

“What I like about our team is that we just don’t quit. We just keep coming. Back home, we call it the ‘Never Say Die’ attitude,” said Cone after the Philippines’ 66-57 win over Iraq on Saturday at King Abdullah Sports City.

“We have that. I think that’s very evident on this team. We hope that will be the one that will get us forward.”

Gilas showed exactly that against New Zealand in a game where it rallied from 18 points down before falling 94-86 early Friday.

The Nationals also fell behind against the Iraqis early before taking control and notching the victory that sent them into the qualification quarterfinals.

READ: Tim Cone and Gilas Pilipinas ready for tougher trek to title

Calling the shots for Ginebra, the most popular team in the PBA, Cone is used to having the crowd rallying behind his team.

Cone pretty much feels the same coaching Gilas with a big Filipino crowd always showing up to support.

“Our crowd really elevates our game when we start playing well.”

“We experienced that back home. We experience that basically everywhere we go in the world and it’s just such a unique thing to our team and to our country and to our culture.”