By the numbers: The stats and facts from the 2023 Road to BAL

 

ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - It's never too late to take a look at the numbers that drew a full picture of the 2023 Road to BAL qualifiers that kept fans on the edge of their seats over the last two months.

Find below some 2023 Road to BAL figures that we would you to take note of. 

50

It's the number of Road to BAL games played between October and November 2023.

48

FAP recorded the largest winning margin by thumping Espoir BC 104-56, a 48-point difference.  

39

Chris Crawford had a performance for the ages, leading Al Ahly Benghazi with a 39-point performance in a 93-84 win over FAP in the do-or-die Third-Place Game from the West Division Elite 16.

Chris Crawford

The 2023 All-BAL First team nominee was 6-for-11 from long range while establishing a 2023 Road to BAL record of 39 points.

24

There was a high demand for USA players as 24 Americans emerged as the largest group of import players. Two Canadians, one Belgian and one Australian completed the list of non-African players to the 2023 Road to BAL.

23

This was the number of participating teams 2023 Road to BAL.

The list of participating teams was as follows: Abidjan Basket Club (Cote d'Ivoire), Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya), Bangui Sporting Club (Central African Republic), BC Virunga (DR Congo), Beau Valon Heat (Seychelles), Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), City Oilers (Uganda), Club Ominsport Police Nationale (Madagascar), Dolphins (Botswana), Dynamo (Burundi), Elan Coton (Benin), Espoir BC (Gabon), Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique), Forces Armees et Police (Cameroon), FUS Rabat (Morocco), JBC (Zimbabwe), Kenya Ports Authority (Kenya), Munali Suns (Zambia), NBA Academy Africa, Pazi (Tanzania), Seydou Legacy Athletique Club SLAC (Guinea), UNAM Wolves (Namibia) and Ushindzi de Ouani (Comoros).

21

FUS Rabat's Aliou Diarra grabbed the most rebounds in a single game by finishing with 21 boards in a 78-60 win over FAP.

16

The three youngest players at this year's Road to BAL were aged 16. 

Noe Toto Cuma (00)

BC Virunga's Noe Cuma, who turns 17 on Christmas eve, averaged 9 points, 2.5 assist and 2.5 rebounds per game. The other two 16-year-olds were NBA Academy Africa's David Ike from Nigeria and Ushindzi de Ouani's Mahamadou Binouri who turns 17 on December 15.

12

Al Ahly Benghazi's playmaker Souleyman Diabate dished out a tournament-high 12 assists in a 93-84 triumph over FAP. 

11

Nigerians were the most sought-after group of African players amongst 2023 Road to BAL teams. A total of 11 Nigerians played for eight different teams. South Sudanese came second with six players featuring for four teams while five Ivorians played for three non-Ivorian teams.

Nigerian Samuel Adewunmi  posted 19 points in the East Division Elite 16 Third-Place Game, but his COSPN fell  short to fellow Nigerian Chris Obekpa's Dynamo

9

BC Virunga's Frank Betoudji established a Road to BAL record of 9 (nine) blocked shots although the Congolese champions fell 65-61 against FAP.

7

Was the highest number of three-point made by a single player in a game. Both FAP's Arnold Kome and COSPN's Elly Randriamampionona hit 7 (seven) treys each.

6

The teams that qualified for the BAL 2024 are as follows: Cape Town Tigers, City Oilers, Dynamo, Al Ahly Benghazi, FUS Rabat, and Bangui Sporting Club.

Bangui Sporting Club clinched the West Division Elite 16 title

5

It's the number of host cities. The four Preliminary Round groups took place in four African cities, namely Antananarivo (Madagascar/Oct 6-8), Yaounde (Cameroon/Oct 8-12), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania/Oct 19-21), Gaborone (Botswana/Oct 21-23), before the East and West Divisions Elite 16 were held in Yaounde (Oct 31-November 5) and Johannesburg (Nov 21-26), respectively.

4

It's the number of teams that withdrew from the 2023 Road to BAL. Stade Malien (Mali), Nigelec (Niger), Roche-Bois Warriors (Mauritius) and Sebata City (Ethiopia) informed FIBA Africa of their unavailability a few days before the start of the qualifiers.

Al Ahly Benghazi, Bangui Sporting Club, Dynamo and FUS Rabat are four of the five teams (including Rwanda's APR who benefited from automatic qualification) that qualified to the BAL for the very first time.

3

It's the number of countries that will be represented in the BAL for the first time. Those countries are: Burundi, Central African Republic and Libya. 

1

The East Division Elite 16 game between Pazi and Dynamo has entered the history books as the first-ever to be decided after a double overtime. 

Dynamo outlasted Pazi in a double overtime battle to reach the Semi-Finals

Cape Town Tigers closed their Road to BAL qualifiers campaign as the only team without tasting a single loss. The South African champion finished with a perfect 5-0.    

FIBA