Rivers Hoopers centre Peter Olisemeka is banking on the team’s determination and consistency to excel at the 2024 Basketball Africa League, as revealed in a recent statement.
The Kings Men will begin their campaign at the tournament on Saturday against last season’s runners-up, AS Douanes, and Olisemeka hopes the Nigerian champions can leverage on his experience as they bid to reach the playoff round at the tournament.
Since its inaugural season in 2021, Nigerian teams have appeared twice at the BAL, with Rivers Hoopers playing in the inaugural edition of the tournament and Kwara Falcons featuring in 2023, with both teams failing to reach the playoffs on both occasions.
Olisemeka believes the Hoopers will be more competitive in this season’s BAL.
“We are trying to go as far as possible and play the best basketball we can,” Olisemeka said.
“It’s a new team with a combination of new players, so we’re going to try to go very far. Expectations are high, but we still have a lot of work to do.
“We’re definitely pushing to reach the next round; that’s the very first thing. But how far? If we play hard, stay consistent and help each other out, I think we could go very far.
The 32-year-old, who was voted the Eurobasket All-Bulgarian League Defensive Player of The Year while playing for Akademik Plovdiv, added, “Personally, I fight for the game because I play really physical basketball. Hopefully I could bring that, my experience, speed and energy to the team.”
He was also part of the ZZ Leiden team from The Netherlands that won the BNXT League title in 2022, the inaugural season of the Dutch-Belgian basketball competition.
Olaitan Ibrahim