The Nigerian champions, Rivers Hoopers, will hope to reach new heights in the Basketball Africa League when they begin their playoff campaign against AS Douanes on Saturday (today) at the BK Arena, Kigali, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The 2024 BAL season has entered a defining stage as the playoffs began on Friday and will last until June 1.
Hoopers and Douanes met twice in the Sahara Conference and came off with a win each.
Following their brilliant outing at the Sahara Conference in Dakar, Rivers Hoopers head coach Ogoh Odaudu has also set new targets for the KingsMen.
It is a great feeling. For the past two seasons, we have been watching the playoffs on television, but this season we are live in the arena. It is a reality, and we know that this is it,” Odaudu said via BSN Sports.
Everyone is excited; the team is hyped up and looking forward to the playoffs, and we are hoping we will continue from where we stopped.
“We have gotten a little bit greedy now. We played very well, so why do we need to stop here? A podium finish is actually what we are looking for right now.”
The KingsMen will face AS Douanes in the seeding game on Saturday before playing against Petro de Luanda or US Monastir in the quarterfinals.
“We won’t dream far ahead; we will take it one game at a time. First is AS Douanes in the seeding game, and we will use it as a test to see what we can do and what we cannot do. The target right now is the quarter-finals game; from that game, we will see what happens from there.”
The Hoopers last played in Kigali at the inaugural edition of the BAL in 2021 and could only manage one win in three games
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