Afrobasket Qualifiers: Diogu, Okoye, Ezeli make 20-man provisional list

By Our Reporter

D’TIGERS Coach new coach Mike Brown has released a 20-man provisional list for the 2021 Afrobasket qualifiers slated for Kigali, Rwanda between 27th and 29th, November.

 

Brown who will officially start his voyage with Nigeria submitted a list featuring 7 players who featured at the 2019 FIBA World Cup where Nigeria qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo.

 

Captain, Ike Diogu will lead the legion which includes 29 year old Stan Okoye (Gran Canaria), Ben Uzoh, Ike Iroegbu, Talib Zanna, Ekpe Udoh and Michael Eric.

 

2015 NBA winner with Golden State Warriors, Festus Ezeli will be on the flight to Rwanda for a chance to represent Nigeria for the first time ever alongside a member of the 2015 Afrobasket winning team, Mike Gbinije.

 

After missing the final 12 man team to the world cup, France based Ike Nwamu will make another return to the team alongside Tonye Jekiri, Christopher Obekpa, Braxton Ogbueze, Mike Efevberha, Obinna Emegano who at some point featured during the team's 2019 qualifiers series.

 

Chima Moneke who has averaged 12.3pts and 5.8rebs in 4 games for Orléan in the French league has also been called up for the first time alongside Zaid Christopher Hearst-Okpalannaka who plies his trade in the second tier of the French league.

 

Other new faces who will hope to earn their first cap include Real Betis powerforward, Obi Enechionyia alongside Ogbunu John and Rasheed Sulaimon who play for Casademont Zaragoza

 

 

 

FULL LIST:

1.      Stan Okoye                Small Forward     Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria (Spain)

2.      Ikechukwu Nwamu    Shooting Guard      Cholet (France)

3.      Ike Iroegbu                Point Guard          Capital City Go-Go (NBA G League, USA)

4.      Talib Zanna                      Centre                   Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C  (Israel) 

5.      Chima Moneke                 Power Forward        Orléans Loiret Basket (France) 

6.      Obinna Enechionyia         Power Forward        Real Betis (Spain)

7.      Micheal Gbinije                Shooting Guard       BC Nevėžis (Lithuania)

8.      Obi Emegano.                  Shooting Guard       Baloncesto Fuenlabrada (Spain)

9.      Mike Efevberha           Shooting Guard        JA Vichy-Clermont Métropole (France)

10.  Michael Eric                     Centre                      Turk Telekom Basketball (Turkey)

11.  Tonye Jekiri                      Centre                  Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia (Spain)

12.  Rasheed Sulaimon           Shooting Guard                 Casademont Zaragoza (Spain)

13.  Zaid Hearst-Okpalannaka  Shooting Guard     Antibas (France) 

14.  Ekpe Udoh                              Centre 

15.  Ben Uzoh                                Point Guard

16.  Christopher Obekpa                 Centre

17.  Ike Diogu                                Centre 

18.  Braxton Ogbuezue                  Guard

19.  Festus Ezeli                             Centre

20.  John Ogbunu