God and guts: How Mike Phillips became the ideal UAAP icon

MANILA, Philippines – Mike Phillips was your ordinary UAAP basketball player.

No, there is no typo nor missing word. He was ordinary.

Throughout his five-year career with La Salle, the Fil-Am big man hardly developed a jump shot, almost always missed one in every two free throws, and was never the top star for the championship-contending Green Archers.

Hoopers who fit that exact archetype are a dime a dozen, even in a height-challenged nation like the Philippines.

Despite his obvious limitations, the 23-year-old Phillips exited the UAAP like few others, under a deserved spotlight as a two-time UAAP champion, the Season 88 Finals MVP, and the unquestioned heart, soul, and motor of the men in green and white.

Unashamed and undeterred by his flaws, Phillips ultimately bowed out as a school legend, a player the UAAP can be proud to call a model student-athlete.

Effortless in effort

Bursting into the Philippine basketball scene as a relatively unknown 19-year-old rookie, Phillips almost immediately became famous for his unbridled, unparalleled effort, passing both the metrics and the eye test with flying colors.

Utilizing his 6-foot-8 frame, Phillips made sure to fight for every single ball, no matter the cost, as long as it gave La Salle and its top stars more chances to score, and thus, increase their odds of winning.

“I’m always going to try to be a good guy off the court. But my dad always told me, ‘When you’re on the court, you’ve got to go beast mode. You’ve got to be able to flip that switch,’” he said regarding his on-court hustle.

Much has since been said and seen about his determination, yet it was a curious detail off the court that, in a way, truly encompassed Phillips’ penchant for all-out effort.

Although he was never required to do so, Philips made sure to speak in Filipino as often as possible and even requested that reporters ask him in the local tongue so that he could improve on conversing quicker.

While it may seem like a trivial detail, it was one that set him emphatically apart from other Fil-Am athletes, or Fil-foreigners in general, who seldom bother to move away from their English comfort zones.

“I kind of love falling in love with other cultures, because I really learn more about the history,” Phillips said in a 2022 interview as a wide-eyed teenager.

“I just really just love making connections with people, you know, talking to my professors and kind of seeing, you know, their perspective on things. Just kind of just picking everybody’s brain as much as I can.”

His desire to learn in all facets — academics, basketball and Filipino culture, just to name a few — spoke volumes of his personality and why it was worth following through the years.

Center for Christ

As if he needed more reasons to prove his upstanding character, Phillips eventually became comfortable enough to consistently profess his faith as the reason for his basketball success.

While many other players parrot default post-game quotes like “I did my best” or “I just did what the coaches told me,” Phillips took full advantage of his interviews to either praise Jesus Christ, uplift teammates and adversaries alike, or be completely vulnerable and share personal anecdotes that inspired him for certain games.

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Though certainly not everyone’s cup of tea in the long run, Phillips tirelessly gave out many more faith-related “sermons” that he believed contributed positively to La Salle’s team success, again proving that his heart for effort goes way beyond a basketball court’s boundaries.

“From not making the Final Four, to making the Final Four, to being a champion, to losing the Finals, and now to winning it [again] finally, God couldn’t have created a better story,” he said. “I’m just so happy that He used me as His servant.”

Until the very end, Phillips never made it about himself. He was always just another guy, just another cog in the machine, a common soldier for Christ.

“It’s been a great five years, but I don’t want my name to be remembered. All I want to say is that I’m blessed to be a part of something bigger,” he said. “Jesus is the real MVP, Jesus is the real champion.”

“I want to be remembered as an arrow that points up to God. Don’t focus on the arrow. Focus on where it’s pointing to.”

Throughout the years, Phillips simply put the “extra” in extraordinary, and the UAAP today is all the better for it. – Rappler.com

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