D’Tigers head coach Alex Nwora has attributed Friday’s loss to Cote d’Ivoire to fatigue and late preparation for the last round of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Cote d’Ivoire dismantled the D’Tigers 72-46 to end their 9 game unbeaten run at the ongoing Qualifiers.
Reacting afer the loss, Nwora commended his boys for putting up a decent show despite the fatigue and little time together in camp for training.
He said the Ivorians did a good job in containing his team’s offence after the team only managed to score just a single 3 point shot throughout the game saying it was going to be tough for any team to win with such poor shooting record.
“I know we are fighters, Ivory Coast played at home, they had their home support and that got to us a little bit too.”
“I am proud of the way we fought but we could have done more to represent Nigeria better but we have 2 more games to regain our respect in Africa and hopefully we will do a better job tomorrow against Central Africa,” Nwora said.
On his part, D’Tigers captain Ike Diogu said the team did not execute the game as planned while missing a lot of their scoring chances which cost the team dearly but stressed that it is not enough for the panic button.
“We missed easy shots. A lot of those three shots that were wide open.”
“If I am being honest, do I think Ivory Coast is a better team than us? No. I think if we play them 20 times, we will beat them 20 times out of the 20 but unfortunately, that’s why the game is played.
“All it takes is one night to be off. They played well, hats off to them but is it a reason for me to be concerned? No, because we never shot like that before from 3 or 2”
Diogu is optimistic that all mistakes will be corrected on Saturday when they face third placed Central African Republic.
