Diogu, Alade are top picks as Nigeria tests might against Dominican Republic

Captain Ike Diogu, Alade Aminu and Ike Nwamu are among 15 players selected by D’Tigers’ Head Coach, Alex Nwora picked for the two pre-World Cup games against the Dominican Republic today and Monday.

The players are already in San Domingo for the game, which s part of Nigeria’s build up to the 2019 Basketball World Cup billed for China later this year.

Also in the team are regulars Ben Uzoh, Iroegbu Ike, Talib Zanna, Tosin Mehinti, Obekpa Chris and Akindele Ayodeji.

Others are newly invited Jordan Ogundiran, Agada Caleb, Gabe Vincent, Stanley Okoye, Stephen Domingo and TK Edogi.

The game will hold at the Palacio De Los Deportes.

Nwora said the test games would afford him the opportunity to rate the players  at his disposal in a game situation, as well as try out new tactics.

“The last few days have been very interesting in camp. The players have been showing a high level of discipline and willingness to learn new things. The friendly games will afford the technical crew the opportunity of evaluating the players,” he said.

Some players are expected to be dropped after the test games, while others on the 44-man list earlier released by Nwora will join the team for the next phase of training.

“This won’t be an easy decision but we just have to do it. If I had my way, I would have loved to take all the 44 players to the World Cup, but sadly this is not possible.”

The two-legged friendly slated for Saturday and Monday is part of the programmes lined up by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) to get the team ready for the Mundial.