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Team captain Jimmy Enabu, points guard Fayed Baale and debutant Rogers Dauna all missed the game.
As the Silverbacks fell 89-44 to Corte d’Ivoire Saturday evening in Luanda, Angola, three players did not get the chance to step onto the floor.
Team captain Jimmy Enabu, points guard Fayed Baale and debutant Rogers Dauna.
This was strange considering Enabu is the most senior player in the squad and the captain of the team.
Baale had scored 15 points against Angola on Friday, a team high for Uganda and while Dauna is just finding his footing in the set up, he was still required because there are just nine players in Luanda.
But why did the players warm up and then stay glued to the bench as the other six fought? The answer is quite simple. The three did not have jerseys that match their numbers and could not play wearing different numbers from what they used in the first game.
Against Angola, Enabu wore his famous number five while Baale donned the number three and Dauna the number eight.
That was with the white jersey, which came without numbers and a marker was used to write the numbers on some of the players’ jerseys.
Unfortunately for the contingent, the home jersey, which is red in colour came with numbers written on and the three players ended up with no jerseys that match their numbers.
Decision? Sit out the game.
Andrew Tendo relied on just the other six players and the team lost 89-44 in their penultimate game of the qualifiers.
Ceaser Kizito lead the scoring with 11 points while Innocent Ochera, who played all the 40 minutes of the game, got 10.
Stanley Mugerwa contributed eight points and 10 rebounds while Titus Lual had eight points and seven rebounds.
Sire Dieng and Jean Dally led Corte d’Ivoire with 23 and 17 points respectively.
Uganda is paying the price for having no preparation before the tournament and will conclude the miserable trip against Guinea on Sunday.
The team almost failed to make the trip to Luanda after Fuba failed to secure funds from National Council of Sports.
It took the intervention of Fiba to have the team make the trip but with just nine players, a coach, physio and doctor.
The team arrived in Angola just a few hours to their first game against the hosts, and lost 82-49.
Fiba Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers
Result
Corte d’Ivoire 89-44 Uganda
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