Nigeria national basketball team

Nigeria Nigeria
FIBA ranking 25 Decrease 1
Joined FIBA 1964
FIBA zone FIBA Africa
National federation Nigeria Basketball Federation
Coach Will Voigt
Nickname(s) D'Tigers
Olympic Games
Appearances 2 (2012, 2016)
Medals None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances 2 (1998, 2006)
Medals None
FIBA Africa Championship
Appearances 17
Medals Gold: 2015
Silver: 1997, 1999, 2003
Bronze: 1995, 2005, 2011
All Africa Games
Appearances 7
Medals Gold: 2011
Bronze: 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007
Uniforms
Light
Dark

The Nigerian national basketball team represents Nigeria in international competitions. It is overseen by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).

It is generally considered to be one of the best national basketball teams in the FIBA Africa zone, along with Angola and Senegal. Nigeria is ranked 24th in the FIBA World Rankings.[1]

Nigeria is the only African nation to ever qualify for the Summer Olympics through the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. This was accomplished at the 2012 Event when Nigeria beat the world elite teams of Lithuania and Greece.

As of 2015, Nigeria is Africas reigning basketball champion.

History

Nigeria's national basketball team joined FIBA in 1964. Recently, the team has enjoyed success, due to an increasing amount of talents from Nigeria as well as an orchestrated recruitment of American college and professional players of Nigerian descent. A team dominated by Nigerian-Americans qualified for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, marking only the second time in the country's history that they qualified to the FIBA World Cup.

Eight players on the team that represented Nigeria at the 2009 FIBA AfroBasket tournament were born in the United States. Nigeria also qualified to the 2012 Summer Olympics.

2006 FIBA World Championship

Nigeria took part in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. They were drawn in Group A with Argentina, France, Lebanon, Serbia and Montenegro, and Venezuela. They surprisingly finished third in Group A, then were narrowly defeated by Germany in the Round of 16. Overall they finished 14th, as they achieved the same record as the defending world champion Serbia and Montenegro.

2012 Summer Olympics

Nigeria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. They finished the group play with a 1–4 record, with their victory coming against Tunisia, making the first ever Olympic game the first ever Olympic victory.

Performance table

Summer Olympic Games

Year Position Tournament Host
2012 10 2012 Summer Olympic Games London, United Kingdom
2016 Qualified 2016 Summer Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

FIBA World Cup record

Year Position Tournament Host
1998 13 1998 FIBA World Championship Athens, Greece
2006 14 2006 FIBA World Championship Japan
2014 – 2014 FIBA World Cup Spain

FIBA Africa Championship record

Year Position Tournament Host
1965 – FIBA Africa Championship 1965 Tunis, Tunisia
1968 – FIBA Africa Championship 1968 Casablanca, Morocco
1970 – FIBA Africa Championship 1970 Alexandria, Egypt
1972 12 FIBA Africa Championship 1972 Dakar, Senegal
1974 – FIBA Africa Championship 1974 Bangui, Central African Republic
1975 – FIBA Africa Championship 1975 Alexandria, Egypt
1978 6 FIBA Africa Championship 1978 Dakar, Senegal
1980 11 FIBA Africa Championship 1980 Rabat, Morocco
1981 – FIBA Africa Championship 1981 Mogadishu, Somalia
1983 – FIBA Africa Championship 1983 Alexandria, Egypt
1985 7 FIBA Africa Championship 1985 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
1987 8 FIBA Africa Championship 1987 Tunis, Tunisia
1989 – FIBA Africa Championship 1989 Luanda, Angola
1992 5 FIBA Africa Championship 1992 Cairo, Egypt
1993 – FIBA Africa Championship 1993 Nairobi, Kenya
1995 3rd FIBA Africa Championship 1995 Algiers, Algeria
1997 2nd FIBA Africa Championship 1997 Dakar, Senegal
1999 2nd FIBA Africa Championship 1999 Angola
2001 5 FIBA Africa Championship 2001 Casablanca, Morocco
2003 2nd FIBA Africa Championship 2003 Alexandria, Egypt
2005 3rd FIBA Africa Championship 2005 Algeria
2007 5 FIBA Africa Championship 2007 Angola
2009 5 FIBA Africa Championship 2009 Libya
2011 3rd FIBA Africa Championship 2011 Antananarivo, Madagascar
2013 7 FIBA Africa Championship 2013 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
2015 1st FIBA Africa Championship 2015 Radès, Tunisia
2017 To be determined FIBA Africa Championship 2017 Republic of the Congo

African Games

See also: Basketball at the African Games
  • 1965 : Did not qualify
  • 1973 : ?
  • 1978 : Did not qualify
  • 1987 : ?
  • 1991 : Did not qualify
  • 1995 : 3rd
  • 1999 : 3rd
  • 2003 : 3rd
  • 2007 : 3rd
  • 2011 : 1st
  • 2015 : 3rd
  • 2019 : To Be Determined

Commonwealth Games

See also: Basketball at the Commonwealth Games
  • 2006 : 4th
  • 2018 : To be determined

Roster

Team for the 2015 FIBA Africa Championship.

Nigeria men's national basketball team roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – DOB Ht. Club
PG 4 Uzoh, Ben 27 – (1988-03-18)18 March 1988 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Lagos Islanders Nigeria
G 5 Umeh, Michael 30 – (1984-09-18)18 September 1984 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Ironi Nahariya Israel
C 6 Diogu, Ike 31 – (1983-09-11)11 September 1983 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Dongguan Leopards China
F 7 Aminu, Al-Farouq 24 – (1990-09-21)21 September 1990 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Portland Trail Blazers United States
SF 8 Olasewere, Jamal 23 – (1991-09-16)16 September 1991 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Pallacanestro Virtus Roma Italy
G 9 Oguchi, Chamberlain 29 – (1986-04-28)28 April 1986 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) KK Włocławek Poland
SF 10 Okoye, Stan 24 – (1991-04-10)10 April 1991 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Pallacanestro Varese Italy
SF 11 Ogide, Andy 27 – (1987-10-01)1 October 1987 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Poitiers Basket 86 France
G 12 Gbinije, Michael 23 – (1992-06-05)5 June 1992 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Syracuse Orange United States
C 13 Lawal, Olaseni 28 – (1986-10-08)8 October 1986 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) FC Barcelona Basquet Spain
C 14 Aminu, Alade 27 – (1987-09-14)14 September 1987 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) Hapoel Eilat B.C. Israel
C 15 Oyedeji, Olumide 34 – (1981-05-11)11 May 1981 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) London Lions England
Head coach
  • United States William Voigt
Assistant coach(es)
  • Nigeria Sani Ahmed
  • Nigeria Ayinla Johnson
  • Nigeria Ogoh Odaudu
  • Nigeria Abdulrahman Mohammed
Team doctor
  • Nigeria Suleiman Ohida
Physioterapist
  • Nigeria Ekundayo Ogunkunle
Legend
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 20 August 2015

Depth chart

Pos. Starter Bench Bench Reserve Inactive
C Festus Ezeli Ekpe Udoh Shane Lawal
PF Ike Diogu Gani Lawal Alade Aminu
SF Al-Farouq Aminu Michael Gbinije Stan Okoye
SG Chamberlain Oguchi Jamal Olasewere
PG Ben Uzoh Michael Umeh

Notable players

Festus Ezeli

Other current notable players from Nigeria:

Nigeria roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr.
PG Josh Akognon 30 – (1986-02-10)10 February 1986 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Banco di Sardegna Sassari Italy
C Solomon Alabi 28 – (1988-03-22)22 March 1988 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) Free agent
C Festus Ezeli 26 – (1989-10-21)21 October 1989 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Golden State Warriors United States
Legend
  • Club – describes current club
  • Age – describes age on 4 May 2016

Head coaches

Notable players

Several players of the Nigerian national team have had success playing for professional teams, in the NBA, or in Europe, including:

Hakeem Olajuwon never played for the Nigerian team at senior level,[3] and would eventually play for the United States, after becoming a US citizen in 1993.

Past rosters

Scroll down to see more.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FIBA rankings". FIBA. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "NBBF hires Will Voigt to lead D’Tigers to Afrobasket and All African Games; may lead team to Rio 2016 Olympic Games". Basketball. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  3. ↑ "Forget it, Nigeria. Victor Oladipo is gone!". Basketball. Retrieved 2015-09-16.

External links

Videos

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