SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - Now that the first FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers games are done and dusted, it's time to look at the facts and figures from the 24 games played in November in Yaounde and Luanda.  

Angola have never lost an official home game

Playing at home, Angola won all their three games, and as a result, extended their home winning streak to a 23-0 dating back to 1989. As hosts of three editions (1989 and 1999 and 2007) of FIBA Africa’s prime tournament, they claimed three continental titles as a result of twenty victories.

A view of the Arena Kilamba during the World Cup Qualifiers in November 2017

With an 11,500 turnout at Kilamba Arena witnessing Angola taking on neighbours the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola recorded the second highest attendance in the history of an African basketball game.

Two years ago, Tunisian officials refuted reports of an 11,000 turnout in the FIBA AfroBasket 2015 game between Tunisia and Morocco, arguing that 12,000 fans had actually filled the seats at Salle Omnisport de Rades.

Morocco’s wonderkid

Sami Uariachi

Playing alongside six players over the age of 31 was never an issue for 18-year-old Sami Uariachi. The youngest player in the entire African Qualifiers not only made all his three field-goals - including two three-pointers - against hosts Angola, but he also emerged as the face of Morocco’s rebuilding process.

Tunisia undefeated under Mario Palma, Abada continues to rise to stardom

Tunisia finished their Group A’s First Round undefeated in three games, and as a result, improved their winning streak to 14 games since head coach Mario Palma took over in September 2016.

Omar Abada

Point guard Omar Abada was on fire, finishing this first round of three games without missing a single 3- point attempt (8/8). He has scored 88.9% of his field goal attempts, 100% of this 3-point shots and 80% from the free-throw line.

Cameroon have highest offensive efficiency

Playing at home, Cameroon scored 116 points against Guinea. That’s the best offensive performance in the African Qualifiers. They also scored 16 3-pointers against Guinea, which is the highest number of 3-point shots any team scored in the African Qualifiers. Cameroon’s bench players scored 57 points against Guinea, the best scoring performance by any bench squad in the African Qualifiers.

Nakidjim is Mr. double-double 

Chad may have scored only 40 points against Tunisia - the least among all African teams during the first set of qualifying games for the World Cup -, but Placide Nakidjim made his international basketball introduction in style.

Placide Nakidjim is seen here during a game against Guinea

He averaged 11.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. He is the only player averaging a double-double in the African Qualifiers. Nakidjim is also the player with more blocks per game (2.3) in the African Qualifiers.

Guinea have a lot of room for improvement 

After losing all their three FIBA AfroBasket 2017 games, Guinea's struggled continued in Yaounde as they lost their Group A games. They have lost all their games by an average of 37.3 points per game.

(Note: Some of the figures were provided by OPTA)

Julio Chitunda
FIBA

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