Uganda’s Silverbacks astound Nigeria to write history by making the quarter-finals of the AfroBasket 2021 despite money concerns in camp.
In the 2015 AfroBasket tournament held in Rades, Tunisia, Nigeria were crowned champions lifting their first-ever trophy of the tournament. In this tournament, Nigeria faced new entrants, the Silverbacks, and quelled them 98-59.
It was a completely different ball game come to the 2021 Afrobasket where Nigeria did not expect that the then-new entrants would hatch a plan that would have the title contenders out of the tournament.
“The key to the game was our defense. Holding them under 36 percent from the field; we forced 19 turnovers. I think what is going to be more impactful in the future is the influence that these players will have on the new generation,” Uganda head coach George Galanopoulos said.
Robinson Opong’s domination behind the arch accumulated 18 out team-high 19 points with a match-high efficiency of +23. Deng John Gue had the most playtime followed by Ishmail Wainright and Arthur Kaluma. All 3 players contributed 11 points.
The Silverbacks had complete command of 3 quarters of the game with Nigeria trying to pull back in the 4th quarter. At some point in the match, the silverbacks had a 21 point difference over 2015 AfroBasket winners, Nigeria.
Q1 (12-24) Q2 (19-20) Q3 (18-23) Q4 (19-13) Full-time 68-80
The Silverbacks came into the tournament with a couple of financial issues but this was no reason to deter the team from winning against Nigeria to proceed to the Quarter-Final stage of the tournament. The Silverbacks now face the hurdle of Cape Verde in the Quarter-Finals.
Meanwhile, host Rwanda’s journey at the tournament came to an end after losing their playoffs qualification match to Guinea 68-72.
