D’Tigers’ Ike Nwamu Blames ‘Flat Start’ For AfroBasket Loss

Nigeria’s men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, saw their 2025 FIBA AfroBasket campaign come to a crashing halt after a 91-75 quarterfinal defeat to Senegal in Luanda.

Guard Ike Nwamu admitted the team failed to match Senegal’s energy from the onset, which ultimately cost them the game.

“It hurts. We had high hopes; we had a really good group, fun group, we all love each other, but it’s part of the game — one team has to win, another has to lose. It was not our day today.

They came out with more energy. We were kind of flat to start. They are a really good team; they got lots of high-level players. It was their night tonight,” Nwamu said.

Nigeria had advanced to the last eight with a perfect 3-0 record in the group stage, becoming the second team after Côte d’Ivoire to reach the quarterfinals unbeaten.

However, their title aspirations ended abruptly against a Senegalese side that grew stronger as the game progressed.

The opening quarter was tightly contested, with both sides trading baskets before Nigeria edged a 24-23 lead after seven lead changes.

But Senegal quickly seized momentum with a 13-5 run that forced Nigeria into a timeout.

From then on, the West Africans struggled to keep pace. Senegal’s relentless offense, coupled with Nigeria’s lapses in defense, turned the contest into a one-sided affair.

Boissy and Sylla proved especially punishing with back-to-back three-pointers early in the second quarter.

Senegal, the tallest team at AfroBasket 2025, dominated the boards with a 53-35 rebounding advantage and stretched their lead to as many as 24 points in the third quarter.

With the victory, Senegal advanced to the semifinals for the fifth time since the 2013 edition in Abidjan. They will face Mali next, having already beaten them 80-70 in the group stage.

Meanwhile, for Nigeria, the loss ended what had been a promising campaign marked by three straight group-stage wins. D’Tigers will have to wait longer to add to their solitary AfroBasket triumph in 2015.

Sports247.com