The 2024 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented the University of Santo Tomas in the 87th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the academic year 2024–25 began on September 7, 2024, and the host school for the season was the University of the Philippines.

The Tigers made it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019 after finishing the double round-robin eliminations at third place with 7 wins against 7 losses. It was also the first time in eight years when a bottom-ranked team qualified to the semifinals the following season. The Adamson Soaring Falcons, who had a 3–11 record in 2015 ended up as the fourth-ranked team in 2016.

UST, however, lost to the second-seeded UP Fighting Maroons in their Final Four match and ended their season at the podium as second runners-up.

They had an average winning margin of 11.9 points and an average losing margin of 10.0 points. Two of their games resulted in blowouts, with the Tigers losing against the De La Salle Green Archers by 21 points in the first round and then winning over Adamson by 26 points in the second round. Their second-round game against the Archers resulted to a 7-point overtime loss.

Nic Cabañero was selected to the Mythical team during the presentation of awards. He was ranked sixth in the players' MVP tally with 61.0 statistical points and was the league's second leading scorer with an average of 16.3 points per game. He had a season-high of 27 points in their second-round game against the UE Red Warriors.

Third year veteran Forthsky Padrigao, who had transferred from Ateneo led the league in assists with 6.1 per game, while rookie Amiel Acido was chosen Player of the Week by the Collegiate Press Corps during the final week of the elimination rounds in late November.

Roster The Growling Tigers presented 18 players for the UAAP media day photo shoot on August 29, 2024. The roster was finalized on September 5, 2024, with forward Lorenzo Bangco and Nigerian center Peter Osang getting cut from the official 16-man lineup.

===Depth chart===Depth chart

Roster changes A total of nine players have departed the Growling Tigers' 2023 roster, with notable transfers by some of their blue chip recruits, and the consequent abandonment of the team by their foreign student-athlete.

UST has struggled for the past three seasons since the Sorsogon bubble controversy that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The team has managed to win only six out of the 42 games that they played. The revamp of the roster was the result of a year-long transitional period, since returning coach Pido Jarencio inherited a lineup of players who were recruited during a series of rebuilding phases. The Tigers took their time in building a competitive team by scouting and recruiting players while the basketball tournament was still ongoing last season.

The official lineup for UST's 2024 campaign consisted of seven holdovers and nine new players, with two rookies, six transferees, and a new foreign student-athlete. Among the rookies are the 2023 NCAA Juniors MVP Amiel Acido, and Zain Mahmood, who was a member of the Under-16 national team that competed in the 2022 FIBA Asia Championship in Qatar. The two freshmen are both eligible for five playing years beginning in Season 87.

Acido was named the third best high school player for 2024 by the National Basketball Training Center, from being 11th in 2023. He averaged 17.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 18 games while playing for the Perpetual Junior Altas. He was being recruited by former assistant coach McJour Luib to the UST Tiger Cubs' roster in 2020, before the pandemic, but chose to play for Perpetual after the bubble fiasco.

Mahmood, a 6-foot-7 Filipino-Canadian center with Pakistani roots, averaged 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in the six games that he played during the 2022 U-16 FIBA Asia Championship. He also played for the Fil-Nation Select team in the 2023 NBTC National Finals, where he averaged 6.8 points and 3.6 rebounds. He was recruited out of Maranatha High School in California, where he averaged 13.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 20 games for the Minutemen as a high school senior.

Among the transferees are Forthsky Padrigao, a member of the Mythical five and champion team, the Ateneo Blue Eagles in 2022, and Filipino-Americans Kyle Paranada, Chase Lane, Leland Estacio, and Geremy Robinson.

Padrigao, the 11th ranked NBTC player in 2019, averaged 11.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game in Season 85, earning for himself a runner-up finish to the MVP race.

Paranada averaged 11.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in Season 85 with the UE Red Warriors. He averaged 23.5 points per game in his senior high school year with the Montgomery Aztecs in San Diego.

Estacio, a transferee from West Valley College in California, averaged 3.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 12 games playing as a sophomore for the Vikings. In the preseason, while completing his year-long residency with UST, Estacio earned the PinoyLiga Next Man Cup MVP honors.

Replacing Senegalese center Adama Faye as the team's foreign student-athlete is Malian Mo Tounkara. Tounkara, who was recruited by former Growling Tigers head coach Jino Manansala had played in numerous FIBA-sanctioned 3x3 tournaments in Mali. His Le Centre Mamoutou Kané de Kalabancoro (CMK) team placed third in the second leg of the Habib Sissoko 3x3 tournament in Bamako in October 2020. He was an alternate player of the U-19 Malian national team that competed in the 2021 FIBA World Cup in Latvia.

Departures SG 0 Ivan Lazarte 6' 2" 3rd Malayan High School of Science Transferred to Mapúa UniversitySG 2 Kylle Matthew Magdangal 5' 11" 3rd Marina High School Transferred to the University of Perpetual HelpC 3 Prudencio Adrian Esmeña III 6' 6" 2nd National University Nazareth School Age ineligibleSF 8 Vincent Gabriel Ventulan 6' 4" 5th Fort Pierce Central High School GraduatedSG 12 Saentis James Moore 6' 1" 2nd Arellano University High School Transferred to College of Saint BenildeSF 15 Kenji Trey Duremdes 6' 3" 3rd National University Nazareth School Transferred to the University of Perpetual HelpPG 22 Paul Matthew Manalang 5' 10" 4th National University Nazareth School Forwent eligibility to turn professionalC 23 Adama Faye 6' 8" 3rd Le Pionnier Left the team midway in Season 86SF 24 Jonathan Ralf Gesalem 6' 1" 4th Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Forwent eligibility to turn professional

Acquisitions SG 1 Leland Reuben Estacio 6' 2" 3rd Franklin High School Transferred from West Valley CollegePG 3 Kyle Brandon Paranada 5' 9" 3rd Montgomery High School Transferred from the University of the EastPF 5 Chase Lawrence Lane 6' 4" 5th Covenant College Prep Transferred from Claflin UniversityPG 11 Rence Keith Sean Padrigao 5' 11" 3rd Ateneo de Manila Transferred from Ateneo de ManilaSF 12 Glenn Isaac Danting 6' 3" 1st University of the Assumption Transferred from Ateneo de ManilaSG 20 Leonardo Amiel Acido 6' 3" 1st University of Perpetual Help RookieC 21 Zain Mahmood 6' 7" 1st Maranatha High School RookieSG 23 Geremy Jaylen Robinson Jr. 6' 1" 1st Moanalua High School Transferred from De La Salle UniversityC 36 Hinda Mady dit Mohamed Tounkara 6' 7" 1st Lycée Public de Kalabancoro Foreign student-athlete

Recruiting class Amiel Acido SG 6' 3" University of Perpetual Help Antipolo 31 May 2024 2023 NBTC Top 24 rank: 11 (All-Star game participant with Team Hustle)2023 SLAM Rising Stars Classic participant (with Team Hype)2024 NBTC Top 24 rank: 3 (All-Star game participant with Team Hustle)Forthsky Padrigao PG 5' 11" Ateneo de Manila Zamboanga City 30 Sep 2023 2018 NBTC Top 24 rank: N/A (National Finals #1 seed, Division 1 quarterfinalist with Ateneo)2019 NBTC Top 24 rank: 11 (National Finals #5 seed, Division 1 Round-of-16 participant with Ateneo; All-Star game participant with Team Hustle)2019 SLAM Rising Stars Classic participant (with Team Hype)2020 NBTC Top 24 rank: 15Zain Mahmood C 6' 7" Maranatha High School Mississauga 23 Feb 2024 2023 NBTC Top 24 rank: N/A (National Finals #1 seed, Division 1 finalist with Fil-Nation Select)

Coaching staff

Former La Salle head coach Juno Sauler joined the Tigers' bench as an assistant coach on January 10, 2024. He has been an assistant coach of the San Miguel teams, first with Barangay Ginebra, and presently with the Magnolia Hotshots in the PBA, since his tenure ended with the Green Archers in 2015. He was also the head coach of the La Salle women's team that won a three-peat from 1999 until 2001. He became the Archers' head coach in 2013 and led the team to the championship against UST on the same year.

Former PBA player and longtime San Miguel Beer assistant coach Peter Martin was also hired as deputy tactician. Alfrancis Chua, San Miguel Corporation's sports director and UST's Special Assistant to the Rector had revealed in an interview that he particularly instructed the inclusion of Sauler and Martin to the Tigers' coaching staff.

Assistant coach Lester del Rosario, meanwhile, was reported to have departed Jarencio's coaching staff in January.

Schedule and results Preseason tournaments The Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup games were aired via livestream on the Facebook pages of Filoil EcoOil Sports and Smart Sports, and Filoil EcoOil Sports' YouTube channel.

UAAP games

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format and all of UST's games were televised on One Sports and the UAAP Varsity Channel, and livestreamed through the Pilipinas Live app.

UAAP statistics Eliminations Nic Cabañero 14 11 30.0 83 199 41.7 13 62 21.0 49 80 61.3 5.4 1.9 0.9 0.1 1.3 16.3 Mo Tounkara 13 13 28.6 72 157 45.9 12 37 32.4 24 36 66.7 10.2 1.0 0.5 0.8 2.6 13.8 Forthsky Padrigao 14 13 27.2 45 146 30.8 22 97 22.7 11 18 61.1 3.3 6.1 1.5 0.0 2.9 8.8 Christian Manaytay 14 5 21.6 42 94 44.7 8 22 36.4 25 34 73.5 4.0 1.2 0.9 0.2 2.1 8.4 Kyle Paranada 14 0 11.4 24 56 42.9 15 35 42.9 8 15 53.3 1.1 2.1 0.4 0.0 1.4 5.1 Gelo Crisostomo 14 9 19.1 26 58 44.8 3 11 27.3 9 13 69.2 6.9 0.6 0.4 0.9 0.7 4.6 Amiel Acido 14 0 9.9 16 51 31.4 12 39 30.8 5 7 71.4 1.9 0.8 0.3 0.1 0.4 3.5 Mark Llemit 14 3 15.1 15 49 30.6 8 24 33.3 10 18 55.6 2.7 1.1 0.8 0.1 0.6 3.4 Ice Danting 9 8 8.1 7 15 46.7 5 12 41.7 3 6 50.0 1.2 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.4 2.4 Migs Pangilinan 14 1 9.0 8 32 25.0 8 30 26.7 5 7 71.4 1.3 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.7 2.1 Geremy Robinson 10 2 9.8 7 22 31.8 1 8 12.5 6 11 54.5 1.7 0.8 0.3 0.0 0.4 2.1 Chase Lane 10 5 7.3 6 15 40.0 2 7 28.6 6 8 75.0 0.8 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.3 2.0 Leland Estacio 13 0 9.2 7 26 26.9 4 21 19.0 1 1 100.0 1.2 0.9 0.4 0.1 0.6 1.5 Echo Laure 8 0 3.6 4 9 44.4 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 1.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 1.0 Ivanne Calum 5 0 4.8 1 3 33.3 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 1.2 0.4 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.4 Zain Mahmood 7 0 3.9 1 4 25.0 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.3 0.3 Total 14 40.4 364 936 38.9 113 407 27.8 162 254 63.8 42.7 16.9 7.1 2.4 14.7 71.6 Opponents 14 40.4 351 912 38.5 109 363 30.0 179 264 67.8 43.4 16.0 6.1 3.4 15.1 70.7 Playoffs Kyle Paranada 1 0 24.1 4 9 44.4 2 5 40.0 2 2 100.0 2 4 0 0 0 12 Nic Cabañero 1 1 29.6 4 13 30.8 1 2 50.0 3 4 75.0 3 1 0 0 2 12 Gelo Crisostomo 1 0 18.1 6 9 66.7 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 7 0 0 1 0 12 Christian Manaytay 1 1 27.1 4 12 33.3 2 6 33.3 0 2 0.0 8 2 0 1 1 10 Mo Tounkara 1 1 27.6 4 12 33.3 0 2 0.0 0 2 0.0 8 1 0 1 1 8 Forthsky Padrigao 1 1 25.5 2 8 25.0 1 6 16.7 2 4 50.0 0 3 0 0 1 7 Amiel Acido 1 0 17.3 1 2 50.0 1 2 50.0 0 0 0.0 3 2 1 0 1 3 Migs Pangilinan 1 0 5.5 1 3 33.3 1 3 33.3 0 0 0.0 2 0 0 0 1 3 Mark Llemit 1 0 13.2 1 2 50.0 0 1 0.0 0 2 0.0 1 0 0 1 1 2 Leland Estacio 1 0 6.4 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Ice Danting 1 1 3.9 0 1 0.0 0 1 0.0 0 0 0.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 Echo Laure 1 0 1.7 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 1 40.0 27 71 38.0 8 29 27.6 7 16 43.8 41 14 1 4 9 69 Opponents 1 40.0 27 68 39.7 6 26 23.1 18 26 69.2 51 16 5 6 9 78

Source: Imperium Technology

Summary of games