Nigeria’s men’s basketball national team, D’Tigers’ coach, Alex Nwora says he is counting on many new players in his squad to do well at the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, despite the fact that they will be starting against host country, Cote d’Ivoire on Friday.
Heading into the midweek cracker in Abidjan, Nwora said during Mega Sports on Star 101.5 FM, Lagos that his players are all fully focused for the mission at hand, and believes their enthusiasm will bring victory.
Although he admits D’Tigers are without several experienced players for the final phase of the qualifiers, the former Puerto Rico handler believes those who will don Nigeria’s colours in Cote d’Ivoire are equally good.
The 2015 FIBA African champions, who are currently on a nine-game winning streak, en route to picking an early ticket to China 2019, will now face Senegal, Cote d’ Ivoire and Central African Republic this week.
Ahead of the ‘formality’ games for his side, Nwora said he is determined to finish the qualifiers on a high, while stressing that the absences of some key players will not affect his ambition.
Among those Nwora does not have in Cote d’Ivoire are Portland Trail Blazers guard, Al Farouq Aminu, as well as Christopher Obekpa, Stanley Okoye, Obinna Emegano and Ike Nwamu, who will all not feature in the final qualifying campaign billed to end on Sunday, February 24.
Nwora said: “We just have to make sure that when the light is on, we give it everything we have and show that we are the dominant team in Africa.
“Since we don’t have all the players who took part in the last window who are familiar with the national team, we are still able to bring a couple of new players who have not played before to fill in the void.
“I am fortunate to still have players like Ike Diogu, Deji Akindele, Ike Iroegbu and a couple of players who know my system and coaching philosophy which is giving your best to the great country Nigeria.
“Everybody wants to play for their country, they are very proud to be here and wear the green white green.
“The players want to come back and play because the condition has been favourable and they are happy to be here.”
