The 2015 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 78th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 2015-16 began on September 5, 2015 and the host school for the season was the University of the Philippines.

UST made it back to the playoffs after getting eliminated in Season 77. They finished the double round-robin eliminations at first place with 11 wins against 3 losses. The FEU Tamaraws had the same win–loss record but were ranked lower on an inferior -10 quotient. The last time that the Tigers got the top seed was in 1995 when they won their third straight championship. It was also the last time that they won as many as 11 games at the end of eliminations in a season.

They had a twice-to-beat advantage over their Final Four opponent and defending champions, the NU Bulldogs who they defeated in one game to advance to the Finals against FEU. NU has been the Tigers' semifinal opponent for the third time in the last four years. UST became the fifth team in UAAP history to reach the Finals after missing the Final Four playoffs in the previous season.

In Game Two of the Finals series, Kevin Ferrer's 24 points in the third quarter broke the UAAP record for most points scored in a period. He tied his career-high of 29 points in their 62–56 win over FEU to extend the series to a deciding Game Three. In that game, UST was also able to limit the Tamaraws to their lowest scoring output, as they have not scored lower than 60 points in the season. FEU won the series in three games, ending a decade-long wait to claim their 20th men's basketball championship. The Tigers who had faced FEU in the Finals for the first time since 1979 won both games against them in the elimination rounds.

UST recorded the most three point shots made in the season with 89 for a league-best 31% field goal percentage. They also held the highest free throw conversion of 68.4% among all teams.

Graduating players Ferrer and Ed Daquioag were included in the Mythical team selection during the presentation of awards. Ferrer was chosen back-to-back Player of the Week by the UAAP Press Corps for the duration of September 23–27 and on the week of September 30-October 4, while Daquioag received the citation for the period of September 9–13.

Roster

Depth chart

Roster changes Subtractions SF 5 Kim Kaizen Lo 6' 1" 5th St. Jude Catholic School GraduatedPG 9 Levi dela Cruz, II 5' 7" 2nd Nazareth School of National University Transferred to Jose Maria CollegeSF 10 Aljon Mariano 6' 3" 5th San Beda College–Rizal GraduatedSF 11 Regie Boy Basibas 6' 3" 2nd Arellano University High School Out due to groin injuryPF 12 Jon Cornelius Macasaet 6' 3" 3rd San Sebastian College-Recoletos Out due to ACL injuryC 13 Paulo Lorenzo Pe 6' 4" 5th Ateneo de Manila GraduatedPF 14 Raymart Angelo Sablan 6' 4" 2nd UP Integrated School Transferred to University of the PhilippinesSF 16 Alfren Gayosa 6' 2" 2nd San Sebastian College-Recoletos Transferred to San Sebastian College-Recoletos

Additions SG 5 Janus Kyle Christian Suarez 6' 2" 2nd Ateneo de Manila Transferred from University of the PhilippinesSG 9 Dean Marvin Lee 5' 8" 1st Far Eastern University–Diliman RookiePG 10 Osama Said Abdurasad 5' 10" 1st Kaunlaran High School RookieC 11 Enrique Caunan, Jr. 6' 5" 1st Colegio de San Juan de Letran RookiePG 12 Janrey Garrido 5' 6" 2nd Hope Christian High School Returning from Season 75SF 13 Zachary Lance Eden Huang 6' 4" 1st Sacred Heart School–Ateneo de Cebu RookieSF 14 Mario Emmanuel Bonleon, Jr. 6' 3" 1st La Salle Greenhills Promoted from Team BPF 16 Justin Arana 6' 5" 1st Basud National High School Rookie

Recruiting class Mario Bonleon SF 6' 3" La Salle Greenhills Davao City 10 Jul 20132013 National Basketball Training Center Top 30 playerMarvin Lee SG 5' 8" Far Eastern University–Diliman Antipolo 25 Apr 20152015 National Basketball Training Center Top 30 playerZachary Huang SF 6' 4" Sacred Heart School–Ateneo de Cebu Cebu City 9 Mar 20152015 NBTC rank: N/A (Division 1 champion)

Coaching staff Estong Ballesteros, the Growling Tigers' assistant coach for offense and trainer has resigned from his post. He had informed head coach Bong dela Cruz of his decision to concentrate on coaching the Philippine National Police basketball team in the MBL and as deputy to Lawrence Chongson at Tanduay in the PBA D-League.

Rene Baena was hired to replace Ballesteros. The veteran coach who was a member of UST's track and field team was an assistant coach of the Adamson Baby Falcons juniors' basketball team. He has coached the juniors teams of La Salle Greenhills, Ateneo U13, and the San Beda Red Cubs in the past. He has also served as an assistant coach of the UE Red Warriors team that made it to the UAAP Finals in 2009.

Four-time Philippine Basketball Association MVP Alvin Patrimonio has also come on board as consultant and trainer of the team's big men.

Injuries Forwards Joco Macaseat and Regie Boy Basibas were excluded from the roster with both suffering from year-long injuries. Macasaet tore his ACL while lifting weights in the offseason, while Basibas had some issues with his groin.

Karim Abdul, Louie Vigil, and Kyle Suarez also fell to various injures in the summer, but all three were able to play in the UAAP. Abdul underwent surgery on his left knee in April to have his bone spurs removed. Vigil failed to suit for the Tigers in the Filoil Flying V tournament as he got sidelined by a hamstring injury, and while Suarez was able to play after recovering from an ACL injury in December, he reinjured it during a game against the De La Salle Green Archers in the first round.

Mario Bonleon and Renzo Subido also missed games during the season. Bonleon hurt his finger during practice and was not able to play against the Adamson Falcons in the first round, while Subido also had an ACL injury before their Finals series with FEU.

Schedule and results Preseason tournaments

UAAP games

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on ABS-CBN Sports and Action and Balls. The second game of the Finals series was aired on ABS-CBN and Balls.

Postseason tournament The Philippine Collegiate Champions League games were aired on ABS-CBN Sports and Action.

UAAP statistics Eliminations Kevin Ferrer 14 14 31.5 71 177 40.1 32 92 34.8 77 99 77.8 8.2 1.6 0.9 0.4 2.2 17.9 Ed Daquioag 14 14 34.5 89 211 42.2 7 41 17.1 45 66 68.2 5.6 2.2 1.1 0.8 3.4 16.4 Karim Abdul 14 14 29.4 59 136 43.4 2 5 40.0 57 86 66.3 8.4 1.2 0.5 1.2 2.4 12.6 Louie Vigil 14 8 24.1 49 115 42.6 11 42 26.2 21 35 60.0 4.8 2.5 0.4 0.4 2.1 9.3 Marvin Lee 14 2 19.8 25 62 40.3 14 37 37.8 23 29 79.3 2.9 0.6 1.1 0.0 1.6 6.2 Mario Bonleon 13 6 16.6 23 58 39.7 8 23 34.8 4 7 57.1 2.4 0.8 0.0 0.2 1.8 4.5 Kent Lao 14 2 17.1 15 51 29.4 11 34 32.4 6 9 66.7 2.9 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.6 3.4 Jon Sheriff 14 10 17.2 11 44 25.0 0 0 0.0 10 25 40.0 2.4 2.1 0.6 0.0 0.7 2.3 Kyle Suarez 6 0 14.3 3 5 66.0 3 3 100.0 0 0 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.5 1.5 Renzo Subido 12 0 5.9 2 13 15.4 1 9 11.1 3 4 75.0 0.4 0.8 0.1 0.0 0.5 0.7 Jeepy Faundo 10 0 3.1 1 1 100.0 0 0 0.0 3 4 75.0 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.5 Zach Huang 6 0 2.3 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 Justin Arana 2 0 1.2 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Janrey Garrido 6 0 0.8 0 2 0.0 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 Enric Caunan 4 0 0.6 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Ama Abdurasad 4 0 0.5 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Total 14 40.0 348 877 39.7 89 287 31.0 249 364 68.4 40.6 11.9 4.9 3.2 16.4 73.9 Opponents 14 40.0 345 908 38.0 78 299 26.1 198 307 64.5 44.1 13.1 3.4 3.1 18.7 69.0

Playoffs Kevin Ferrer 4 4 34.8 22 59 37.3 9 30 30.0 8 15 53.3 6.3 1.3 0.5 1.0 1.8 15.3 Karim Abdul 4 4 31.2 14 40 35.0 0 0 0.0 20 29 69.0 7.3 1.0 0.0 1.3 3.0 12.0 Ed Daquioag 4 4 32.9 15 46 32.6 1 9 11.1 12 16 75.0 5.8 2.0 1.0 1.0 3.5 10.8 Louie Vigil 4 4 28.7 16 50 32.0 2 16 12.5 4 7 57.1 6.3 2.5 1.0 0.5 1.0 9.5 Marvin Lee 4 0 17.6 6 16 37.5 3 13 23.1 7 9 77.8 2.3 1.3 0.0 0.0 1.3 5.5 Mario Bonleon 4 0 16.4 7 14 50.0 2 7 28.6 0 0 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 4.0 Jon Sheriff 4 3 15.0 6 11 54.5 0 0 0.0 4 12 33.3 3.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.8 4.0 Kent Lao 4 1 18.0 2 14 14.3 1 10 10.0 3 4 75.0 1.5 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.3 2.0 Zach Huang 2 0 4.4 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 Jeepy Faundo 4 0 3.2 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 2 0.0 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 Total 4 40.0 88 250 35.2 18 85 21.2 58 94 61.7 39.0 8.5 3.5 3.8 12.5 63.0 Opponents 4 40.0 83 259 32.0 18 90 20.0 69 97 71.1 50.8 10.0 2.0 3.3 17.3 63.3

Source: HumbleBola

Awards Team Fr. Martin Cup runner-up trophy17 Jun 2015 UAAP runner-up trophy2 Dec 2015Ed Daquioag Mythical team28 Nov 2015 Appeton Most Improved Player Player of the Week9–13 Sep 2015Kevin Ferrer Mythical team28 Nov 2015 Bear Brand Adult Plus Level Up PlayerPlayer of the Week23–27 Sep 201530 Sep–4 Oct 2015

Players drafted into the PBA Kevin Ferrer and Ed Daquioag, both members of the Gilas national team training pool applied for the 2016 PBA draft and were selected through a special draft separate from the regular rookie applicants on October 30, 2016.

Ferrer was selected by the Tim Cone-led Barangay Ginebra San Miguel team as the second pick, while Daquioag ended up with the Norman Black-coached Meralco Bolts for the special draft's sixth overall pick.

2016 Special draft for Gilas players 2 2 Kevin Ferrer Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 6 6 Ed Daquioag Meralco Bolts

References