Why can't Senegal find ways to beat DR Congo?
When the twoteams last met in Dakar, DR Congo only trailed for 20 seconds. Even with their tireless home fans cheering on them for most of the game, the Lions couldn't keep up with the Leopards.
ALEXANDRIA (Egypt) - A day before Senegal played DR Congo in Alexandria, they looked to instil a new approach after suffering their heaviest defeat to Egypt (76-43). The trouble is, they tried everything they could, but the Senegalese repeated the same mistakes, and DR Congo took advantage of it to prevail 72-60.
It was DR Congo's second straight triumph against Senegal in five months.
In February, DR Congo beat Senegal 72-67 in front their home crowd in Dakar in the first round of Group D of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers.
The two defeats to DR Congo prompted a question. Why can't Senegal find ways to beat DR Congo?
A thorough look into the numbers help to disclose Senegal's struggles against DR Congo
- Senegal's sloppy plays have resulted in 23 turn-overs, from which DR Congo scored 24 points on Saturday
- Senegal's inability to fight back. When the two teams last met in Dakar, DR Congo only trailed for 20 seconds. Even with their tireless home fans cheering on them for most of the game, the Lions couldn't keep up with the Leopards.
- It's true that Senegal have a chronic problem at the point guard position, but Jean-Jacques Boissy had a decent display on Saturday night, finishing with 14 points and 4 assists, but Senegal's frontcourt had a subpar performance. Aside from Gorgui Dieng who led Senegal with 16 points and Ibrahim Faye who contributed 11, no other Senegalese player contributed in double digits.
- Coincidently, or maybe not, Yossoupha Ndoye had modest contributions in both defeats to DR Congo.
Senegal head coach Boniface Ndong shed light on his team's current form: "We have the same team as last summer. It's just lack of maturity. We have to be able to play for 40 minutes."
The former AfroBasket MVP went on saying: "It's true we don't have all our strengths, but that's not an excuse. Senegal is a basketball country, and we are just playing very bad basketball.
"[DR Congo] They fought more than us. We have to look ourselves in the mirror. Senegal is big basketball country, but everybody is growing, everybody has pride. Until we bring that pride that Senegal always had, we're going to be runout of the gym. Everybody is now confident playing against us. "
Ibrahim Faye went further, saying; "They beat us, many times, on a one-on-one; we started complaining to each other. It's nothing to do with the coach. It's us. Starting with me, Gorgui, and everybody. We got a lot of ego in this team. "
Meanwhile Thomas Drouot took the helm of DR Congo team a few days before Window 2 of the African Qualifiers, noted that "Our strength is our team spirit. If we want to be a good team, we need to be a good defensive team; play aggressive in fast-break.Team spirit. Our belief is that the team is more important than the individual. When I joined this team I found players ready to fight for the team."
DR Congo face Egypt on Sunday while Senegal will go up against Kenya.
FIBA