KAZAN (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers) - Maurice Ndour has no doubt in his mind that Senegal will reach the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 after the team grabbed two more victories in the September African Qualifiers.

Senegal travelled to Nigeria and beat Rwanda 94-89 and then got past Mali 82-71 before falling to hosts Nigeria 89-61 to move to 7-2 in the Second Round Group F.

Ndour and Senegal are in second place - behind 9-0 and already qualified Nigeria - with a three-game lead on Central African Republic and Cote d’Ivoire and three games to go.

"I have no doubt in my mind that we can qualify and return to the World Cup for the second straight time," said Ndour, who has averaged 5.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in the three games in Nigeria.

"We only have two losses and what are the chances for these other teams to win 3 straight games? Anything is possible but the chances of that happening is about 20 percent. We cannot underestimate some of the teams for sure but at the same time I am quite confident that we will be fine."

The final African Qualifiers window in February 2019 will see Senegal face off with Rwanda, Mali and Nigeria one more time. The top two teams in each Second Round group plus the best third-placed team will book their tickets to China next summer.

"It is very important for us to go to China 2019. We've shown the world that we belong during the World Cup in Spain in 2014," said Ndour, who was on the Senegal team that got out of the group stage with a 2-3 record before losing to Spain in the Round of 16.

The 26-year-old Ndour, who plays for Unics Kazan in Russia, took part in his first World Cup Qualifiers window in September. And he said he was a little disappointed that he had to miss the June -July window, which took place in his native Senegal.

"There is nothing like playing on your home court. It's a different energy you can feel," said Ndour, who played in front of the home fans in Dakar at FIBA AfroBasket 2017.

But the 6 ft 9in (2.06m) power forward said Senegal have work to do if they want to challenge the rest of the world should they as expected qualify for next summer’s global spectacle, especially after their performance in the September window.

"We didn't really do anything in particular on either the offensive and defensive end of the floor. I think we were better than both teams (Rwanda and Mali) individually and we had a stronger presence inside than them, and that is the only reason we were able to win those two games," the Sindia native said.

The Nigeria game, in which Senegal trailed 27-14 after 10 minutes and lost by 28 points, was an entirely different story.

"Nigeria is one of the best teams in Africa, and even though we won the previous two games because of our individual talent, we couldn’t do that against a good team like them," he said.

"You could see the difference in execution and togetherness when we played a team like Nigeria, who blew us out. We should learn from our mistakes."

Senegal fans shall see come February 2019.

FIBA