Nigeria national basketball team

Nigeria
FIBA Ranking	21st
Joined FIBA	1964
FIBA Zone	FIBA Africa
National Federation	NBBF
Coach	Ayo Bakare
Nickname(s)	D'Tigers
Olympic Games
Appearances	None
Medals	None
World Championships
Appearances	2
Medals	None
FIBA Africa Championship
Appearances	14
Medals	Silver: 1997, 1999, 2003 Bronze: 1995, 2005, 2011
Uniforms
Light Dark

The Nigeria national basketball team is the national team of Nigeria and is generally considered one of the best in Africa along with Angola and Senegal. They are ranked 21st in the world FIBA rankings.

Recently, the team has enjoyed success due to an orchestrated recruitment of American college and professional players of Nigerian descent. A team dominated by Nigerian-Americans qualified for the 2006 World Championships for only the second time in the country's history, and eight players on the team representing Nigeria in the 2009 Afrobasket tournament (where Nigeria is one of the favorites) are American born.

The team joined FIBA in 1964.

2006 FIBA World Championship

Nigeria took part in the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan. They were drawn in Group A with Argentina, France, Lebanon, Serbia and Montenegro, and Venezuela. They finished third in Group A, then were narrowly defeated by Germany in the Round of 16. Overall they finished 14th.

African Championship record

Morocco 1964 : Did not participate Tunisia 1965 : Did not participate Morocco 1968 : Did not participate Egypt 1970 : Did not participate Senegal 1972 : 12th Central African Rep. 1974 : Did not participate Egypt 1975 : Did not participate Senegal 1978 : 6th Morocco 1980 : 11th Somalia 1981 : Did not participate Egypt 1983 : Did not participate Côte d'Ivoire 1985 : 7th

Tunisia 1987 : 8th Angola 1989 : Did not participate Egypt 1992 : 5th Kenya 1993 : Did not participate Algeria 1995 : 3rd Senegal 1997 : 2nd Angola 1999 : 2nd Morocco 2001 : 5th Egypt 2003 : 2nd Algeria 2005 : 3rd Angola 2007 : 5th Libya 2009 : 5th Madagascar 2011 : 3 !

FIBA World Championship record

• 1998 FIBA World Championship: 13th
• 2006 FIBA World Championship: 14th

Notable players

Several players for the Nigeria team have had success playing for professional teams in the NBA or in Europe, including:

• Akin Akingbala
• Peter Aluma
• Aloysius Anagonye
• Tunji Awajobi
• Obinna Ekezie
• Ebi Ere
• Benjamin Eze
• Ekene Ibekwe
• Michael Olowokandi
• Olumide Oyedeji
• Ime Udoka
• Jeff Varem

Hakeem Olajuwon never played for the Nigeria team at senior level, and would eventually play for the United States after becoming a U.S. citizen in 1993.

2011 Roster

2011 Nigerian National Basketball Team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age - DOB Ht. Club Club nat. 2.5 !G/F 4 Tat, Solomon &1000000000000002500000025 - July 29, 1986(1986-07-29) 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Tennessee Dragons USA ! 2.5 !G/F 5 Udoka, Ime (C) &1000000000000003400000034 - August 9, 1977(1977-08-09) 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) San Antonio Spurs USA ! 1.0 !PG 6 Obazuaye, Jayson &1000000000000002700000027 - July 27, 1984(1984-07-27) 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Al Wakra QAT ! 1.5 !G 7 Usman, Aboubakar &1000000000000002500000025 - July 5, 1986(1986-07-05) 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Kano Pillars NGA ! 1.0 !PG 8 Umeh, Michael &1000000000000002700000027 - September 18, 1984(1984-09-18) 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) CB Valladolid Spain ! 1.5 !G 9 Onyeuku, Chinedu &1000000000000002700000027 - November 5, 1983(1983-11-05) 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Al Morooj LBY ! 3.5 !F 10 Ofoegbu, Ike &1000000000000002600000026 - November 9, 1984(1984-11-09) 81 !6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Gimnasia y Esgrima de Comodoro Rivadavia ARG ! 3.0 !SF 11 Gumut, Stanley &1000000000000002500000025 - February 21, 1986(1986-02-21) 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Al Morooj LBY ! 4.0 !PF 12 Ugboaja, Ejike &1000000000000002600000026 - May 28, 1985(1985-05-28) 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) BC Odessa UKR ! 3.0 !SF 13 Obasohan, Derrick &1000000000000003000000030 - April 18, 1981(1981-04-18) 79 !6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Joventut Badalona ESP ! 4.5 !F/C 14 Ukeagu, Ezenwa &1000000000000003000000030 - February 22, 1981(1981-02-22) 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Salgótarjáni KSE HUN ! 5.0 !C 15 Oyedeji, Olumide &1000000000000003000000030 - May 11, 1981(1981-05-11) 82 !6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) Changwon LG Sakers KOR !	Head coach Ayo Bakare Assistant coach Legend (C) Team captain Club field describes current pro club

2009 African Championship: finished 5th among 16 teams

Akin Akingbala, Aloysius Anagonye, Chamberlain Oguchi, Deji Akindele, Michael Efevberha, Michael Umeh, Josh Akognon, Ebi Ere, Ejike Ugboaja, Gabe Muoneke, Jayson Obazuaye, Benson Egemonye (Coach: John Lucas II)

2011 African Championship: finished 3rd among 16 teams

Solomon Tat, Ime Udoka, Abubakar Usman, Chinedu Onyeuku, Ikechukwu Ofoegbu, Michael Umeh, Stanley Gumut, Derrick Obasohan, Ejike Ugboaja, Ezenwa Ukeagu, Jayson Obazuaye, Olumide Oyedeji (Coach: Ayo Bakare)