By REYNALD MAGALLON
Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone admitted that Ralph Cu exceeded expectations with a career-best performance in the Kings’ 95-88 win over the NorthPort Batang Pier but he stressed that he was not surprised with the rookie wingman’s showing in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Cu had a career game for Ginebra after flirting with a triple-double, finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists – all of which were his season highs.
He also nailed six triples and keyed a 10-3 finishing kick, beginning with a booming trey from the right wing before he issued a great pass for a Christian Standhardinger deuce to cap the telling run.
“Is it a surprise that he is playing this well? Certainly. Playing this well (is surprising) but we expected him to play well,” Cone said of Cu, who Ginebra tapped as the 23rd overall pick.
“He started our games. It’s not like he hasn’t started a game and played. I think he started four or five of our nine games so we expected him to play well,” added the veteran mentor.
Cone said the team wasn’t surprised with Cu’s performance, knowing full well how much work the 26-year-old has been putting in practice.
“He doesn’t do anything in the game that he doesn’t do in practice, put it that way. He practices like he played today so I don’t think the team, the players themselves are not that surprised,” Cone pointed out.
In fact, the team knew he had these capabilities even when he drafted him in last year’s draft, noting that the coaches expected him to become a solid contributor to their campaign.
“We do know a lot about him. He played in our PBA on Tour team and he played in our 3×3 so the coaches were really excited about him,” said Cone.
“It wasn’t a pick like we were doing this because he played for our On Tour team. We were sitting on pins and needles hoping we can get him into the second round and no one else drafts him. And no one else knew him like we did
Still, the near triple-double performance was quite a show for a rookie especially that the last time it was done by a freshman go way back in 2016 when his teammate Scottie Thompson achieved the feat.
“These, triple-double. These are big numbers for anybody so he just kinda announced himself to the league and next time out they’ll be a little bit conscious of him,” he added.
