Head coach of Rivers Hoopers Ogah Odaudu has attributed his team’s ouster from the fifth season of the Basketball Africa League Finals at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa to several factors, including their inability to defend, The PUNCH reports.
The KingsMen were ranked as the fourth-best team heading into the competition.
However, when hostilities began over the weekend, the Port Harcourt-based franchise lost their opening seeding fixture 89-81 against nine-time domestic champions and the third-seeded US Monastir of Tunisia.
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In the last eight, Hoopers were beaten resoundingly 104-73 by APR to crash out of the competition.
Sharing his thoughts after the Hoopers were eliminated, coach Odaudu revealed, “Yeah, what can you say? We’re no longer playing in the semi-finals, we’ve been knocked out. I think we had a really bad day. We didn’t play as well as we thought we could play. And it happens in basketball. We’re not upset…we may be disappointed, but we’re holding our heads up high.”
“Too many things went wrong. The killer for us on the stats was 52 points made in the paint. We didn’t defend the way we should have defended. So, nothing has changed. We’re still Rivers Hoopers. We will still go back there and we will still be back.”
“First and foremost, I think our budget should be increased. That way we get to get more quality players. Not taking anything away from the players we have, they’re the best I think I’ve coached in a while.”
Nobody gave us a chance in Morocco, but we stood our ground against all the teams that were there and we came out second.”
He added, “So, it’s one of those things. Maybe we could get a little more in our budget, and that way we’ll be able to really, really prepare well for this tournament. But all in all, Rivers State so far has been giving us the support that they have been able to give to us.”
And trust me, it’s miles above what other teams will get. But it’s something that we’re going to look at going forward because we need a better roster. And that’s something we’re going to work towards.”
“One of the major problems that we’re facing too. We played against US Monastir who just came off their championship game. Yeah, they lost, but they’ve been playing for a long time. We’re playing today against APR who are still in the thick of their league…Rivers Hoopers have not played competitively since Morocco.
“So it’s one of the problems that we have, too. So, just like you said, we hope the Nigerian federation is going to change all this and then we are truly going to arrive in the BAL and play, not just coming to try to get into game shape while we’re at the tournament.”
The team will be looking to cement their position as the country’s top side when next the domestic league tips off, as they build on the lessons of the 2025 campaign.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
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