The head coach of the men’s senior national basketball team, Coach Ogoh Odauda, on Monday said his team would bounce back from their loss to Senegal at the ongoing FIBA Pre-Qualifying Tournament 2023.
The event holding at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos, has Cameroon, Tunisia, Guinea and Mali competing for the sole available ticket.
Nigeria opened their campaign with a 93-87 loss to Senegal in a keenly contested match, which could have gone either way.
Odauda told newsmen at a press briefing after match that the loss would not affect the mentality or his team’s ability to bounce back in coming matches.
He said it was a game that did not quite go their way and that the team played very hard, but the day was not just theirs.
“We will go back to the drawing board and check the videos as well to see areas we have to work on,”Odauda said.
Head Coach of Senegal, Memadou Gueye, said he was very happy about the result, attributing the victory to the team’s strong mentality and determination to win.
“We are confident of getting good results in the coming matches, it’s a good start; we just have to keep the strong mentality and consistency,” Gueye said.
D’tigers playing in-front of home fans won the first quarter 26:25 with star players Chimezie Metu, Uche Iroegbu leading the team’s onslaught.
However, Senegal came back stronger in the second quarter recording 46:44, rising to every challenge D’tigers threw at them, responding with their solid power play.
The third quarter was a big battle between both teams as Senegal tried to dorminate D’tigers but lost the third quarter, 68:67.
Senegal shockingly, went on the front foot in the final quarter by tacking the game beyond D’tigers in the final quarter to beat D’tigers for the first time in Nigeria.
