2019 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team

UST had an average winning margin of 12.8 points and an average losing margin of 8.7 points.

They had a blowout win over the UE Red Warriors, defeating them 101–73 in the second round of eliminations. Their 101-point output was the highest scored by a team in the season.[7] It eclipsed their opening day record of 95 points which was also against UE.[8] Prior to the game, the Tigers had not scored more than 90 points since Aldin Ayo took over as head coach. It was during the first round of Season 80 when UST scored 91 points in a losing effort to also the Red Warriors on their 11th consecutive loss that dated back to the second round of Season 79.[9]

UST made a record 49 three point shot attempts in their opening game against UE, 15 of which were by Abando.[10] The Tigers also have the most number of three-point field goals converted with 16, as well as the highest total field goal attempts made in a game with 95, converting also a record high 39 shots.

The team also held the most number of free throw attempts and conversions with 42 and 28 respectively. This was during their second-round game against the Adamson Falcons where both teams committed a combined total of 21 team fouls in the first quarter.

UST also recorded the fewest turnovers made in a game with 6 during their second round match against UP.[11]

Cameroonian center Steve Akomo has used up his eligibility but is ably replaced by Beninese Soulémane Chabi Yo, a transferee from Colegio de San Lorenzo who led the Griffins to the 2017 UCBL championship.[12]

Mario Bonleon and Season 81 team captain Marvin Lee decided to forego their 5th playing year to join the commercial leagues. Bonleon announced to the team that he was not coming back for his final playing year due to recurring injuries. He had made his decision before the Tigers played their last game of the season.[13] Lee was the team's second leading scorer last season behind Renzo Subido and had played long minutes in UST's preseason games but was advised by their head coach to pursue playing in the MPBL in lieu of his final year in college. His Season 81 scoring average was 14.4 points per game.[14]

Germy Mahinay and Joshua Marcos also played in the preseason, but both decided to transfer to other schools with Mahinay going to National University[15] and Marcos to College of Saint Benilde. Toby Agustin, who saw limited action last season also transferred to Mapúa University.[16]

Aldin Ayo's two-fold rebuilding plan to hold on to players from the UST high school program and to find talents from the countryside could not be any more evident this season with the arrival of UST Tiger Cubs' mythical team member Mark Nonoy, La Union native Rhenz Abando, and Davao City rookie standout Deo Cuajao.

Nonoy himself was scouted while he was in his junior year at Hua Siong College in Iloilo. He was representing Western Visayas in the Palarong Pambansa where he scored 43 points in a game against the Northern Mindanao team.[17] He earlier scored 41 points for Hua Siong in their championship win over Bacolod Tay Tung High School in the 2018 Iloilo Invitational 17 Under Boys Basketball tournament.[18]

Subtractions

Pos.	#	POB	Player	Height	Year	High school	Notes
C	0		Steve Cedrick P. Akomo	6' 9"	4th	Lycée bilingue de Fondonera	Age ineligibility
SF	4		Mario Emmanuel T. Bonleon, Jr.	6' 3"	5th	La Salle Greenhills	Foregone final year to play in the MPBL
PG	6		Dean Marvin M. Lee	5' 8"	5th	Far Eastern University–Diliman	Foregone final year to play in the MPBL
SG	7		Joshua Miguel S. Marcos	6' 0"	2nd	La Salle Greenhills	Transferred to College of Saint Benilde
SG	8		John Kenneth M. Zamora	5' 11"	3rd	Arellano University High School	Relegated to Team B
PG	10		John Mark M. Lagumen	5' 11"	2nd	San Beda University–Rizal	Transferred to Arellano University
SG	15		Toby Bryan P. Agustin	6' 1"	2nd	José Rizal University	Transferred to Mapúa University
C	26		Germy A. Mahinay	6' 6"	2nd	San Beda University–Rizal	Transferred to National University

Additions

Pos.	#	POB	Player	Height	Year	High school	Notes
SF	3		Brent Isaac P. Paraiso	6' 2"	3rd	De La Salle Santiago Zobel School	Transferred from De La Salle University
PG	6		Mark J. Nonoy	5' 8"	1st	University of Santo Tomas	Rookie
PF	8		Sherwin E. Concepcion	6' 3"	1st	Malayan High School of Science	From Team B
SG	10		Rhenz Joseph M. Abando	6' 2"	3rd	Bactad East National High School	Transferred from PhilCST
SG	17		Miguel T. Pangilinan	6' 0"	1st	Nazareth School of National University	From Team B
SF	19		Ferdinand J. Asuncion, Jr.	6' 2"	1st	Chiang Kai-shek College	From Team B
SG	21		Alberto C. Bordeos, Jr.	6' 0"	1st	La Salle Greenhills	Rookie
C	23		Soulémane Chabi Yo	6' 6"	2nd	Université d'Abomey-Calavi	Transferred from Colegio de San Lorenzo
SG	30		Vince Petdeo D. Cuajao	6' 1"	1st	Holy Child College of Davao	Rookie

Aldin Ayo went into his second year as the head coach of the Growling Tigers, but not without controversies. A rumor that originated from an anonymous tweet in April claimed that Ayo had been fired as coach of the Growling Tigers, but UST's school publication, The Varsitarian later clarified that he was actually giving up his post as consultant of the juniors' basketball program to concentrate on rebuilding the seniors' team.

This led Bonnie Garcia to step down from the seniors' coaching staff to replace Ayo in the juniors' program. Garcia is the coach of the UST Tiger Cubs basketball team that placed fifth in Season 81 on a 7–7 win–loss record.

The Varsitarian further clarified that Ayo had actually signed a three-year contract and not six years as reported last year.[19]

Aside from Garcia, assistant coach Randy Alcantara also left Ayo's coaching staff after he was selected by the Mapúa University Cardinals senior men's basketball team in December 2018 to replace Atoy Co as their new head coach. Alcantara was the coach of Mapúa's juniors' team who had just won their third straight NCAA championship earlier in November.[20]

Tapped to replace Garcia and Alcantara were former Arellano Baby Chiefs player JR Carlos and former captain of the Growling Tigers Jiniño Manansala.

Jiniño, the son of former Philippine Basketball Association Rookie of the Year Jimmy Manansala played for Aric del Rosario alongside Cyrus Baguio, Niño Gelig, Alwyn Espiritu, Christian Luanzon & Emerson Oreta. He is the current head coach of reigning NAASCU champions Saint Clare College of Caloocan. He has also coached the AMA University Titans to the 2006 NAASCU championship and the University of Manila Hawks to the 2010 NAASCU crown.[21]

This season also saw a change in the team manager position with Jimi Lim of Ironcon Builders replacing Chuck Dumlao of FMR Corporation.[22]

Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on ABS-CBN Sports and Action & Liga.

Renzo Subido was drafted 24th overall in the second round of the 2019 PBA draft by Pido Jarencio-led NorthPort Batang Pier.[27]