The Nigeria men’s senior basketball team, the D’Tigers, were defeated 65-59 by Angola in the second round of their FIBA World Cup African qualifiers.
Game 3 result and stat brief @NigeriaBasket #DTigers #FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/nLDjfJyV14
— #NBBF (@nbbfonline) February 26, 2023
The more experienced Angolans had already defeated the D’Tigers in their first meeting in August 2022, and they started in that manner, racing to an 18-15 lead in the first quarter.
The Josep Claros-led team continued their dominance in the second quarter with an 18-14 score line to take a seven-point lead into the second half. The home-based Nigerians found it tough to get going as they fell further behind, with a 19-9 score to take a 17-point lead into the final quarter.
Coach Ogoh Odaudu made some tactical changes, which seemed to work, as the D’Tigers won by an 11-point margin in the fourth quarter, but the 21-10 score line was insufficient to help them secure the much-needed victory.
Nigeria Customs’ Ibe Abuchi Agu led both teams in scoring with a game-high 26 points, while Kevin Kokila, who came off the bench, scored a team-high ten points for the Angolans.
Although the D-Tigers turned the ball over less than their Central African counterparts (22-25) and had more steals (16-11), they were outrebounded 53-34, especially 22-12 on the offensive rebounds, leading to many second-chance points.
With Cape Verde’s victory over Ivory Coast, our World Cup hopes have ended. 💔💔 pic.twitter.com/B8bavqcjqz
— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) February 26, 2023
The defeat puts an end to Nigeria’s hopes of qualifying for the FIBA World Cup tournament to be held in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines later this year, following Cape Verde’s 79-64 defeat of Ivory Coast, to qualify for their first-ever World Cup
They end fourth with 15 points, while the trio of Ivory Coast (18 points), Angola (18 points), and Cape Verde (16 points) finished as the top three teams in Group E, respectively, and they join South Sudan and Egypt from Group F as the five African representatives for the biggest basketball competition from August 25 to September 10.
