The 2015 Afrobasket Champions, D’Tigers of Nigeria have been eliminated by Uganda from the ongoing 2021 Afrobasket Championship in Rwanda.
The Silverbacks of Uganda defeated Nigeria’s D’Tigers 80-68 to seal a quarter final spot on Tuesday evening.
Nigeria started with an unchanged line up from the team that lost to Cote D’Ivoire on Sunday and we’re once again well beaten as the 2017 Silver Medalists missed out on a spot in the last eight.
D’Tigers began the game on the back foot falling behind to the Ugandan midway through the second quarter and never recovered as their opponents kept extending their lead each time Nigeria tried to draw level.
Q1 saw D’Tigers lose by 12 points (12-24) while that was cut down to a 11 points at halftime Q2 – 31-44.
The third quarter didn’t start in the best possible way as Nigeria fell further behind losing the quarter by 5 points. It was however in the final quarter the boys tried to rally back but the Ugandans ensured to defend properly and match them point for point having done the job in the first three quarters.
Uzodinma Utomi scored a game-high 23 points, while Jeremiah Mordi and Ikenna Ndugba both added 12 and 10 points respectively for Nigeria but it wasn’t enough to go through.
Uganda will now face Cape Verde in the quarter final on Thursday while Nigeria miss out on a quarter final spot for the first since the last two editions where the team finished winners and silver medalists (2015 and 2017).
D’Tigers will now turn attention to the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, after getting to know their foes for the Championship on Tuesday afternoon.
Nigeria have been grouped alongside Cape Verde, Mali and Uganda in Group A.
The last time Nigeria featured at the FIBA World Cup in China 2019, they sealed an automatic spot for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after defeating South Korea, Ivory Coast and the hosts, China.
