D’Tigress Forward Hails Coach Wakama For Nigeria’s Success At AfroBasket

Nigerian basketball (D’Tigress) forward, Amy Okonkwo has hailed the coach of the team, Rena Wakama over their excellent performance at the ongoing 2023 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket in Rwanda.

Despite having limited time to prepare for the competition, D’Tigress have been impressive in Kigali as they have beaten big names in the competition to reach the quarter-finals. They will face Mozambique later today, August 2, 2023.

Nigeria moved to the round of eight after two straight victories in the group round. Before overcoming Egypt 83-65, they first beat Dr. Congo 69-35.

The reigning champions have relied heavily on Okonkwo, who had 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 free throws against Egypt.

Even though she is seen as a big positive factor in the team, Okonkwo argued that the team’s success is the coach’s doing.

The coach, Wakama, replaced coach Otis Hughley in June this year, and in weeks, she was able to prepare the D’Tigress well enough to reach the quarter-finals of the AfroBasket.

Wakama is expected to inspire the team to win their 4th AfroBasket title this year after winning it three times in a row in 2017, 2019, and 2021.

“Everything the coach says motivates us. We came for the win, and we knew we had a target painted on our backs. We have a standard that we play to and we’ve been trying to establish a new standard with the new coach,” Okonkwo told FIBA.

“We stepped on the court for each other and we’re ready to play for each other and the country. I think we can improve on our turnovers. We have had way too many. We also need to improve on our shooting but I think we should continue to instill confidence in our shooters so they can improve too.”