D’Tigers Head Coach, Alex Nwora, has invited 15 players for the last window of the 2019 FIBA Men’s World Cup qualifiers taking place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from February 18.
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Alex Nwora, the head coach of the senior national basketball team, D’Tigers, on Sunday said his team was focused on beating all contenders at the ongoing 2019 FIBA Africa World Cup Qualifiers in Lagos.
The lads on Friday opened their World Cup campaign with a 84-73 victory over Cote d’Ivoire
D’Tigers parading some of the best players in the competition defeated Cote D’Ivoire, 84-73, to claim first game in the second round of the qualification series.
With Nigeria pitted against former African Champions, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Central Africa Republic, a tougher challenge is expected
The 12-man team expected to report to camp on September 6 will be headlined by Portland Trail Blazers’ Al-Farouq Aminu, who last featured for Nigeria in 2015 when the team played in the FIBA Afrobasket.
Nwora made this known after the team narrowly lost to world number 1, United States of America, at the weekend in the finals of the PEAK international invitational tournament in China.
Having thrashed Uganda and Rwanda in their previous games, the Nigerian side consolidated her lead in the series by winning the first and second quarters by 22-15 and 25-10 points
In the first quarter, the Alex Nwora-led side led by 30-21 points, just as the African champions extended the lead by 21-14 before the break
The 12-man list announced at the team’s last training session on Thursday will be headlined by Sinchuan Blue Whales player and captain, Ike Diogu.
Nwora told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the team had the depth and quality to win all matches and called for home support for the team.
D’Tigers who already were triumphant in the first leg of the competition played in Bamako, Mali having defeated all opposing teams are comfortably placed to do justice in Lagos.
The nine players, made up of Emenago Obinna, Omoerah Keith Saido, Braxton Ogbueze Jai, Mbamalu Bryant, Agada Caleb Apochi, Moses Kingsley, Mehinti Tosin and Okosun Obehioye, had a light workout with special focus on offensive moves and ball works.
Abdulrahman, who has been saddled with handling the team in the absence of Coach Alex Nwora, said all odds are stacked against them facing an Australian team who are statistically the best so far in the competition.
The list which was compiled by the Coach, Alex Nwora-led technical crew, was made public on Wednesday by the NBBF secretary, Chimezie Asiegbu.
Despite admitting the threat posed by the host, the coach is confident that Nigeria can repeat their 2017 FIBA Afrobasket feat where they defeated Mali by 90-67 points at the group stage
The coach will be in charge of the team as they prepare for the 2017 Men’s Afrobasket tournament to be hosted by Senegal and Tunisia from September 8 to September 18.
This was made known on Wednesday by the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Engineer Musa Kida, ahead of the Senior Men’s national team’s exercise expected to commence on August 12, 2017.