Carl Tamayo is truly blessed and grateful for the chance of representing Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers second window under the guidance of veteran mentor Tim Cone.

The 6-foot-8 forward expressed his gratitude to Cone who has been doing an impressive job of calling the shots in international competitions.

“I’m very blessed to have coach Tim (Cone) as my coach sa national team,” said Tamayo moments after Gilas’ 93-54 romp of Hong Kong to remain unscathed in the tournament.

“He’s guiding me for improvement as a player,” he added.

According to the 23-year-old big man, Cone always reminds him of the adjustments that he should make on the floor.

“He always talks to me [about] what I should adjust, especially sa game ko,”  he continued.

“Especially being more mature, more relaxed in the game, that's the thing na lagi niyang sinasabi sa akin, which I’m trying to improve,” Tamayo added.

Against Hong Kong, the former UP standout notched his Gilas career-high scoring of 16 points along with six rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes of play.

The proud son of Talisay, Cebu also shared that their seniors provide them key pointers to improve their game.

“Our veterans always talk to us to be confident every time when we step on the floor,” Tamayo stressed.

“We had a chance to play, but we tried to put our talent on the system of coach Tim,” he added.

Aside from him, youngsters in Kevin Quiambao and Mason Amos had decent playing minutes, listing eight and three markers, respectively.

The trio along with Kai Sotto, AJ Edu and Dwight Ramos are poised to be the future of the Nationals in the years to come.