JOHANNESBURG (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers) - In his FIBA AfroBasket debut last month, South Africa's ace Pieter Prinsloo did a bit of everything for his team although they lost all their three Group Phase games. 

And although he averaged a team-high 12.3points, added 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assist to his numbers, the 6ft 10in (2.08m) power forward returned home with a sense of unfinished business.



And that's the reason why Prinsloo feels that the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers - set to begin in November against Group A opponents Tunisia, Guinea and Cameroon - must produce better results for South Africa basketball.

"There are little mistakes that we've got to fix. We got to watch film and realize mistakes we made [at FIBA AfroBasket 2017]. We have played against teams - Senegal and Egypt - that have established themselves in Africa as good teams," Prinsloo told FIBA.basketball.

"We've got to see what these guys did. If we want to compete at the World Cup Qualifiers, guys have to get to the gym. I understand guys have to take care of their families, work 9-5… But we have to come together as a team and work." 

"We can definitely make some noise, and we can knock off a couple of teams." - Prinsloo

Under FIBA's new competition system, the 16 teams from AfroBasket 2017 will do battle for the five tickets for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. 

Over a four-year cycle from 2017 through 2021, national teams will play regular official games to qualify for the China 2019 and the FIBA Continental Cups 2021.

South Africa will look to make a splash and Prinsloo is confident they can do so. 

"We can definitely make some noise, and we can knock off a couple of teams," he said.

While the top-three teams of each group will advance to the decisive 12-team round of the qualifiers, which will see national teams play home-and-away games, the teams that finish bottom of the group will be eliminated.

Yet, the former Marist College star who last played for the Nigerian side Lagos City Stars, remains upbeat about their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 qualifiers chances.

"It would be nice to play at home, in a gym that we play all the time. With those home-and-away games in the qualifiers, it's definitely going to be a big help for the guys to play in home environment," Prinsloo explained. "Not having to play in a neutral site - sometimes you don't have fans - it will create a different atmosphere."

South Africa begin their FIBA Basketball World qualifiers journey facing Cameroon on November 24.

FIBA