Big Ike is back, leads Nigeria past Argentina

LAS VEGAS (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - National teams are right now warming up for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, with the men's tournament tipping off on 6 August.

Two sides that will face each other in Group B, Nigeria and Argentina, traded blows in the first of two friendly encounters on Monday in Las Vegas and last year's AfroBasket winners, D'Tigers, prevailed, 96-92.

Ike Diogu, who was at last year's tournament in Tunisia but didn't play due to injury, is healthy now. He had a team-high 18 points against Argentina.

There is also now the presence of 30-year-old Josh Akognon, whose last AfroBasket appearance was in 2009. He made the most of his 15 minutes by connecting on 5 of his 7 attempts from long range.

Akognon, who spent last season with Jilin in China and will play for Dinamo Sassari in Italy's Lega A this coming campaign, finished with 17 points.

Remembering that Nigeria's AfroBasket MVP, Chamberlain Oguchi, drilled 30 three-pointers and is in this year's team, D'Tigers look to have some real marksmen. Nigeria took 35 shots from beyond the arc against Argentina and hit 15 of them. In all, seven of the 11 Nigerians that played knocked down three-pointers.

When Nigeria won last year's AfroBasket, they really put on a show. They knocked off Senegal in the Semi-Finals and then Angola in the Final. 

Against Argentina, a team they also faced at the London Olympics, Nigeria put their tremendous athleticism on display.

Argentina got 18 points from Andres Nocioni, 17 from Nicolas Laprovittola, 15 from Luis Scola and 12 from Gabriel Deck. The teams will square off again on Wednesday and Argentina may have more firepower on display because Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino did not play on Monday.

FIBA