D'Tigers' Olympic dream was dashed on Tuesday when the Nigerian men crumbled in the presence of their home fans, losing 77-68 to their Malian counterparts.
Nigeria's ouster from the qualification race for the men's basketball event at next year's Olympic Games in Paris, France, has continued to generate diverse reactions.
While the team's coach, Ogoh Odaudu, has bravely accepted the blame for the failure, one of the D'Tigers' star players, Uche Iroegbu, has given suggestions on how things can be better in the days ahead.
D'Tigers' Olympic dream was dashed on Tuesday when the Nigerian men crumbled in the presence of their home fans, losing 77-68 to their Malian counterparts.
Having got off to a disappointing start, losing their first game 93-87 to Senegal on Monday, D'Tigers' win in their second game on Tuesday was expedient.
D'Tigers initially appeared to be on track in the game against Mali, but they capitulated in the fourth quarter of the encounter.
With their hope of playing at the Olympics now up in smoke, Uchenna Iroegbu, who made the highest points for D'Tigers, has said the team and its federation need to reflect on the errors that cost the chance of making it into the Olympic Games for a third consecutive time
"When you lose, sometimes stats kind of feel empty cause you feel like it could have been more, and in this game, winning is everything. Winning is how you advance, not your individual stats, so, unfortunately, it hurts. I think all of us, especially how we performed in this competition, all of us can do better." Iroegbu, who recorded 26 points, five rebounds and four assists against Mali, told journalists during the post-match conference,
The Guinean club side SLAC point guard further added there is a need to readdress the errors and drawbacks to avoid future disappointments.
"Players, coaches, whether it's federation and everybody when you lose, has to look at themselves in the mirror and think about what they can do to improve, so I think as a country and especially as our basketball organisation federation, players included coaches included, we all have to look ourselves in the mirror and say what can I do to improve the next time."
Coach Odaudu takes the blame for the exit
With the defeat becoming a shock to Nigerians, especially losing on home soil, the Coach of the team, Ogoh Odaudu, has taken full responsibility for his boys' double defeats at the qualifiers.
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Odaudu, a former player who became a title-winning coach for Rivers Hoopers, failed to transmit his winning mentality to his boys, who lost by whiskers to their opponents.
According to Odaudu, he said there are no explanations as to why they lost, as the games should have been an easy ride for the Nigerian side.
He said: "There is no explanation for what happened, we lost, and I take all the blame. We do all that we do on God, but it just didn't work out in our favour. How am I going to explain it? I do not know.
" We shouldn't have lost this game, we performed poorly in this tournament, and I think the two games we lost were games that we should have won, but sport is a funny thing, and just there's absolutely no explanation, it's all on me, I take the blame, and hopefully we move forward." the coach added.
With no World Cup and Olympics qualifiers for the men's team anymore, attention will be on the Rena Wakama-led D'Tigress to earn Nigeria a slot at these competitions in the female category.
