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Angola outrebounded and undersized Uganda 63-36 and scored 33 of 93 from the field compared to the Silverbacks’ 17 of 53.
There is no time to mourn a loss in a tournament where games come every 24 hours.
Win or lose, the next game is the most important and that is the situation the national men’s basketball team, Silverbacks find themselves in.
After that 82-49 defeat to Angola in the Fiba Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers Friday night, focus must quickly shift to the clash with Corte d’Ivoire, a team that has already booked their place at the World Cup.
“After the loss to Angola, you would expect us to want to win the next two games,” coach Andrew Tendo said after the loss.
“Angola played a very dominant game, as they should have. They dominated the boards since they are a big team,” he added.
The Silverbacks paid the price for having no preparations before the tournament and showed signs of a team short on numbers and quality.
The team only arrived in Luanda Friday morning with just nine players, all locally based and some, like Rogers Dauna, wearing the national team jersey for the first time.
With not Ishmail Wainright, Arthur Kaluma, Adam Seiko, Robinson Opong, Kieran Zziwa, Brandon Davies, Jonathan Komagum, Tony Drileba and Emmanuel Womala, it was a make-shift Silverbacks side and crumbled under pressure.
Tendo added: “They (Angola) came to win the game, that’s it.”
Angola outrebounded and undersized Uganda 63-36 and scored 33 of 93 from the field compared to the Silverbacks’ 17 of 53.
James Okello, Titus Lual and Stanley Mugerwa all failed to cope with a much bigger home side.
Up next for the Silverbacks is another tough test against the 2021 Fiba AfroBasket finalists.
Corte d’Ivoire won the first meeting 91-80 and it will take great improvement from Uganda to escape another thrashing.
Fayed Baale and Peter Obleng were the only Ugandan players to score in double figures on Friday.
Baale shot four for 12 from three-point range and made three of four free throws to register 15 points.
Obleng had 11 points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.
The Silverbacks will conclude their campaign with a clash against Guinea on Sunday.
Fiba Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers
Saturday fixture
Corte d’Ivoire vs. Uganda -4.30pm
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