The 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards season was the second season of the franchise in the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

(MPBL). The Rice Vanguards sought to improve from their previous 10–20 campaign. On July 5, they would play in their inaugural home game, in which they would equalize their previous season's record in win percentage. They would then surpass that with their eighth win on July 12. Showing dominance across the board, the 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards became the first team in league history to achieve a regular season sweep. This came following their 21st win against the

Batangas City Embassy Chill The Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters are a professional basketball team based in Batangas City, Batangas. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's South Division. The team splits its h ...

at home on October 7. Nueva Ecija began their playoff campaign with sweeps against

Marikina Marikina (), officially the City of Marikina (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 4 ...

and

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

before facing the

San Juan Knights The San Juan Knights (also abbreviated as SJK) are a Filipino professional basketball team based in San Juan. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division. The team plays its ...

in the North Division finals. In game 1, San Juan dealt Nueva Ecija their first loss of the entire season before the Rice Vanguards would then win the next two games to advance to the 2022 national finals against the

Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines The Zamboanga Sikat (stylized as Zamboanga SiKAT), alternatively known as Sikat Zamboanga, is a Filipino professional basketball team based in Zamboanga City. The team currently competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a ...

. After winning the first two games, the team would lose game 3, but eventually seal the championship with a game 4 victory. The team played all of their home games at Nueva Ecija Coliseum in

Palayan Palayan, officially the City of Palayan (, Ilocano: ''Siudad ti Palayan''), is a component city and capital of the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 45,383 people, making it the least ...

Preseason

Nueva Ecija was one of 22 teams that took part in the

2021 MPBL Invitational The 2021 MPBL Invitational was the preseason tournament for the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League's 2022 season and the first edition of what would become the MPBL Preseason Invitational. The tournament began on December 11, 2021 and ende ...

. They would reach the finals against the Basilan Jumbo Plastic, who they would lose to in overtime.

Schedule

Regular season

Standings

Schedule

Playoffs

Schedule

References

{{MPBL champions Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards seasons

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( ; ; ; ), is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Palayan, while Cabanatuan, its former capital, is the largest Local gove ...