Rivers Hoopers head coach Ogoh Oduadu has shared his thoughts on the team’s new additions and emphasised their importance ahead of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Season 5 playoffs in Pretoria, South Africa.
Rivers Hoopers will be participating in the tournament for the third time after making their debut in 2021 and securing a historic third-place finish in 2024 — the first time a Nigerian team has achieved that milestone.
Ahead of the tournament, the Nigerian champions have strengthened their roster with the additions of Ahmed Doumbia and Chingka Garba, bolstering an already talented squad as they set their sights on winning the title for the first time in the club’s history.
Speaking to the press, Ogoh Oduadu discussed the necessity of the two new signings, explaining that they were brought in to help resolve some of the challenges the team faced during the Kalahari Conference in Morocco.
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“We made some additions, we needed to address the deficiencies we faced while we played in Morocco. Of course Ahmed Doumbia plays in the French league, very defensive minded and also a beast on offense.”
“We needed someone to assist Kelvin Amayo in defensive duties in the back court so we brought him here. We had a problem with dribble penetration while we played in Morocco.
“That was because we got beat easily and people got into our paint and once that happened we had a problem with rotation because all they did was just pick us apart, moving the ball round. We wanted to address that and bring someone who could solve that issue.”
“Also we brought in another big. We were almost playing Peter to the ground, he was playing major minutes, all those rebounds. We needed someone who could do that to give him a little bit of blow when it was needed.”
“That’s why we brought in Chingka Garba. With him, we will be a little bit more efficient and we will try as much as possible to control the ball and that is the key to limit the opposition to one shot per possession. Once we do that, I think we’re gonna be good.”
The Basketball Africa League Playoffs is scheduled to run from Friday, June 6 to Sunday, June 14 and will feature eight teams with Rivers Hoopers joining Kriol Star (Cape Verde), Al Ahli SC (Libya), FUS De Rabat (Morocco), Al Ittihad Alexandria (Egypt), Petro De Luanda (Angola), APR (Rwanda) and US Monastir (Tunisia).
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