The UAAP Season 85 basketball tournaments are the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) basketball tournaments for the 2022–23 school year.
The collegiate men's and women's tournaments began on October 1, 2022. The Ateneo Blue Eagles reclaimed the men's title from their Finals opponents UP Fighting Maroons. The NU Lady Bulldogs 108-game winning streak was snapped in the elimination round by the De La Salle Lady Archers, but NU still won in the Finals against La Salle to win their 7th consecutive title.
The high school boys' tournament began on January 15, 2023, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. The FEU Diliman Baby Tamaraws defeated the Adamson Baby Falcons for their ninth title.
Tournament format The UAAP continued to use the UAAP Final Four format.
In cases where a team won all elimination round games, the UAAP has removed the twice-to-beat advantage for the second-seeded team in the second round of the stepladder semifinals.
Fr. Aldrin Suan, UAAP president, said that the league reverted to its pre-pandemic Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday schedule.
The league also included a "head coaches' challenge" based on the FIBA challenge system. This gives each team one challenge per game to review questionable calls by the officials.
Dickie Bachmann, former Alaska Aces governor in the Philippine Basketball Association, was appointed as the UAAP basketball commissioner for this season. Bachmann's term as basketball commissioner was supposed to last until the league's 86th season but he foregone the position as he was appointed as the new Philippine Sports Commission chairman. Ronnie Magsanoc was initially named commissioner to replace Bachmann. Xaxy Nunag was eventually named Bachmann's permanent replacement.
Teams + Collegiate division University Men Women Uniform manufacturer Team Coach Team Coach Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons Nash Racela Lady Falcons Brian Gorospe Anta Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Blue Eagles Tab Baldwin Blue Eagles LA Mumar Jordan Brand (Nike) De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers Derrick Pumaren Lady Archers Pocholo Villanueva Nike Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws Olsen Racela Lady Tamaraws Bert Flores Puma National University (NU) Bulldogs Jeff Napa Lady Bulldogs Aries Dimaunahan University of the East (UE) Red Warriors Jack Santiago Lady Warriors Aileen Lebornio University of the Philippines Diliman (UP) Fighting Maroons Goldwin Monteverde Fighting Maroons Paul Ramos STATS University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers Bal David Tigresses Haydee Ong Anta
+ High School division High school Boys' team Adamson University (AdU) Baby Falcons Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) Blue Eagles De La Salle Santiago Zobel School (DLSZ) Junior Archers Far Eastern University Diliman (FEU-D) Baby Tamaraws Nazareth School of National University (NSNU) Bullpups University of the East (UE) Junior Warriors University of the Philippines Integrated School (UPIS) Junior Fighting Maroons University of Santo Tomas Senior High School (UST) Tiger Cubs
Name changes
Ateneo Lady Eagles and Ateneo Blue Eaglets: On May 5, 2022, Ateneo announced that all of its UAAP teams, regardless of gender, sport or division will now be called the "Blue Eagles".
Coaching changes Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date Replaced by DateAteneo Blue Eagles (women)Katrina QuimpoEnd of contractMarch 23, 2020LA MumarMarch 23, 2020NU Lady BulldogsPatrick AquinoSigned with Philippines women national teamMay 22, 2022Aries DimaunahanMay 22, 2022 UST Growling Tigers Jinino Manansala Signed with UST Tiger Cubs July 5, 2022 Bal David July 23, 2022
Venues
The UAAP released its schedule on September 28. Opening weekend was at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, with games at PhilSports Arena in Pasig, Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, and at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, Rizal.
For Wednesday quadrupleheaders, the women's tournament will play at the Quadricentennial Pavilion in UST's Manila campus; on all other game days, the women's teams will play on the same venue and day as their corresponding men's team.
For the boys' tournament, the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan was scheduled to host all but one gamedays, with the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila hosting one gameday. Eventually, Paco Arena, also in Manila, hosted several elimination round gamedays. ArenaLocationTournamentCapacity 3 Araneta Coliseum Quezon City 14,4296 Filoil EcoOil Centre San Juan 6,0008 Paco Arena Manila 1,0002 PhilSports Arena Pasig 10,0001 Quadricentennial Pavilion Manila 5,7927 San Andres Sports Complex 1,0005 SM Mall of Asia Arena Pasay 15,0004 Ynares Center Antipolo, Rizal 7,400
Squads Each team has a 20-player roster, of which four are reserves. Only one foreigner, an import, or foreign student-athlete (FSA) as called by the UAAP. can be on the active roster.
Imports + Men's FSAs Team Student-Athlete Nationality Lenda Douanga none Bright Nwankwo Patrick Tchuente Omar John none Malick Diouf Adama Faye Note
Men's tournament Elimination round Team standings
Match-up results
Scores Results on top and to the right of the grey cells are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left of it are second-round games.
Postponed games: October 29 men's games (UST vs. La Salle, Ateneo vs. Adamson) were postponed due to Tropical Storm Paeng.
Fourth seed playoff La Salle and Adamson finished the elimination round tied for fourth. This was a one-game playoff to determine the No. 4 seed.
Bracket
Semifinals Ateneo and UP had the twice-to-beat advantage which means they have to win only once, and their opponents twice in the semifinals to advance to the Finals.
(1) Ateneo vs. (4) Adamson The Ateneo Blue Eagles qualified for their eighth consecutive Final Four appearance, and their sixth consecutive tournament with the twice-to-beat advantage – the longest active streak in the Final Four era of UAAP men's basketball. Adamson returns to the Final Four for the first time since 2018.
(2) UP vs. (3) NU This was the first meeting between UP and NU in the semifinals in UAAP men's basketball history. UP was in its fourth straight playoffs appearance, and its third consecutive tournament with the twice-to-beat advantage. The NU Bulldogs returned to the semifinals for the first time since 2015 after missing out the past 5 seasons.
Finals The Finals was a best-of-three series.
This was the second consecutive (and third overall) Battle of Katipunan finals. For the first time in the Final Four era of UAAP men's basketball, Ateneo clinched their sixth consecutive finals appearance – the school's longest overall championship appearance streak in UAAP men's basketball. UP clinched their second consecutive finals appearance.
Finals Most Valuable Player:
Awards
The awards were handed out prior to Game 2 of the Finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
Most Valuable Player: Rookie of the Year: Mythical Five:
Lazada Swag Player of the Season: PSBankable Player of the Season:
Players of the Week The Collegiate Press Corps awards a "player of the week" on Tuesdays for performances on the preceding week. + Week Player Team Week 1 Terrence Fortea Week 2 Luis Villegas Week 3 John Bryan Sajonia Week 4 Malick Diouf Week 5 Kevin Quiambao Week 6 Jerom LastimosaWeek 7
Player suspensions Adama Faye of the UST Growling Tigers for an unsportsmanlike foul against Luis Villegas of the UE Red Warriors. He served his one-game suspension in the game of UST versus FEU Tamaraws. CJ Austria of the De La Salle Green Archers for an unsportsmanlike foul against Patrick Sleat of the FEU Tamaraws. He served his one-game suspension in the game of La Salle versus NU Bulldogs. Evan Nelle of the De La Salle Green Archers for an unsportsmanlike foul against Jerom Lastimosa of the Adamson Soaring Falcons. He served his one-game suspension in the game of La Salle versus FEU Tamaraws. Kean Baclaan of the NU Bulldogs for faking a foul against De La Salle Green Archers. He served his one-game suspension in the game of NU versus Adamson Soaring Falcons.
Statistical leaders Statistical leaders' averages after the elimination round.
Statistical points leaders #PlayerTeam1 Malick Diouf73.8572 Rence Padrigao71.5713 Ange Kouame70.7864 Luis Villegas69.8575 Evan Nelle68.091
Player game highs CategoryPlayerTeamTotalOpponentPoints Nic Cabanero33Rebounds Malick Diouf20 Michael PhillipsAssists Evan Nelle12Steals Rence Padrigao7 Evan Nelle6Blocks Raven Cortez6Turnovers Nic Cabanero9
Player season highs CategoryPlayerTeamAveragePoints per game Nic Cabanero17.62Rebounds per game Adama Faye12.23Assists per game Evan Nelle5.91Steals per game Mark Nonoy2.36Blocks per game Ange Kouame4.43Field goal percentage Jalen Stevens61.22%Three point field goal percentage Terrence Fortea41.27%Free throw percentage Evan Nelle95.65%Turnovers per game Adama Faye3.85
Team game highs CategoryTeamTotalOpponentPoints91Rebounds63Assists29Steals19Blocks8Field goal percentage55.0%Three point field goal percentage45.0%Free throw percentage100%Turnovers29
Team season highs +CategoryTeamAveragePoints per game77.86Rebounds per game49.36Assists per game20.21Steals per game11.14Blocks per game4.43Field goal percentage40.51%Three point field goal percentage30.93%Free throw percentage69.93%Turnovers per game13.29
Women's tournament
Elimination round The NU Lady Bulldogs' 108-game winning streak – the longest by any sporting team in UAAP history – was snapped by the De La Salle Lady Archers on November 24, when the Lady Archers won in overtime, 61–57. NU's last defeat was in the 2013 Finals also against La Salle.
Team standings
Match-up results
Scores Results on top and to the right of the grey cells are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left of it are second-round games.
Bracket
Semifinals NU and La Salle have the twice-to-beat advantage, which means they have to win only once, and their opponents twice in the semifinals to advance to the Finals.
(1) NU vs. (4) Ateneo The NU Lady Bulldogs have qualified for the Final Four anew. Their second round loss to La Salle meant that the Final Four will be played in the usual format for first time since 2013. The Ateneo Blue Eagles booked the last ticket to the Final Four. This was their first playoff appearance since 2015.
(2) La Salle vs. (3) UST The De La Salle Lady Archers and UST Tigresses have qualified for the Final Four.
Finals The Finals was a best-of-three series. NU qualified for its eighth consecutive Finals. La Salle, meanwhile, enters the Finals for the first time since UAAP Season 79.
Finals Most Valuable Player:
Awards
The awards were handed out prior to Game 2 of the Finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. Most Valuable Player: Rookie of the Year: Mythical Five:
Players of the Week The Collegiate Press Corps awards a "player of the week" on Tuesdays for performances on the preceding week. + Week Player Team Week 2 Kacey Dela Rosa Week 6 Bettina Binaohan
Player suspensions Fina Niantcho Tchuido of the De La Salle Lady Archers for an unsportsmanlike foul against Kristine Cayabyab of NU Lady Bulldogs. She served her one-game suspension in the game of La Salle versus UE Lady Red Warriors. Sarah Makanjuola of the Ateneo Blue Eagles for an unsportsmanlike foul against Kamba Kone of UE Lady Red Warriors. She served her one-game suspension in the game of Ateneo versus UP Fighting Maroons.
Statistical leaders Statistical leaders' averages after the elimination round.
Statistical points leaders #PlayerTeam1 Eka Soriano92.2862 Kacey Dela Rosa77.03 Jasmin Joson74.7144 Tacky Tacatac73.4295 Victoria Adeshina72.214
Player game highs CategoryPlayerTeamTotalOpponentPoints Kacey Dela Rosa30Rebounds Kacey Dela Rosa23Assists Eka Soriano11Steals Rachel Ambos8Blocks Sarah Makanjuola7 Kacey Dela RosaTurnovers Joyce Terrinal13
Player season highs