At a brief ceremony held on Friday, the 2015 Afrobasket champions landed in Group C for the tournament to be held between 24th, August and 5th, September.
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NBBF President, Engr Musa Kida made this known as calls for inclusion of rising Nigerian stars who recently got drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA) league grows.
To this end, the NBBF has announced the secondment of D’Tigers assistant coach, Ogoh Odaudu, as Chief Scout for the 2021 NSF holding in Edo.
This call became necessary following self-declarations of top NBA players who have pledged their support and international career to Nigerian Basketball programme.
The camp is being put together by D’Tigers players, Jordan Nwora, who was recently drafted into the NBA by Milwaukee Bucks.
Diogu, who was a member of the team to the London 2012 Olympics, said despite their impeccable 6-0 unbeaten run during the qualifiers, the team is nowhere ready for a busy summer.
Many expected and predicted a stroll in the park, but were shocked when D’Tigers had to dig deep before pulling off a 75-70 points win against South Sudan in their first game and another 64-51 points victory against Rwanda.
Moneke, who made his debut for Nigeria against South Sudan, announced his presence on the international scene with 8 points and 5 rebounds under 13 minutes as the D’Tigers secured a hard fought 75-70 point victory.
The win, which saw the team finishing strong atop group B on a 6-0 run, was spearheaded by Nigerian basketball legend, Ike Diogu, who posted a double-double performance with 20 points and 11 assists.
The Nigerian lads outdunked their Malian counterparts by 76-56 points
The win, which was hard fought, came on the heel of a solid defensive display in the second half against a stubborn Rwandan team, who led for the better part of the game.
The Nigerian team achieved the feat on Thursday
The team avoided a last minute scare against a physically imposing opposition, thanks to back to back treys from Obi Emegano to stretch D’Tigers lead to five after South Sudan opened a one gap lead in the dying minutes of the game.
Having started on an impressive note with three straight victories in Group D over South Sudan, Rwanda and Mali, the team will hope to continue its unbeaten run when they file out in Monastir, Tunisia.
With Nigeria sitting comfortably atop group B after beating Rwanda, Mali and South Sudan, all eyes will be focused on the reverse fixtures, which will be hosted in Tunisia.
In a statement released on Friday, the body said with the scouting system spread across Europe, NBA and also players back home in Nigeria, getting the final list for the qualifiers has not been easy.
In the ranking table on the Federation of International Basketball Association website on Thursday, D’Tigers’ moved by one spot up on the global scene after garnering 433.3 points in the month under review.
Teams have commenced preparations for the third window of the qualifiers between February 19 and 21, 2021, which was announced by FIBA on Monday.
With conflicting media reports over the team’s qualification, the federation said despite D’Tigers’ perfect start, it was too early to boast of punching the ticket with three more matches to play during the Third Window.
The Mike Brown and Alex Nwora lads on Sunday defeated their Malian counterparts 91-68 points in their third game of the series.