Little Cape Verde has great merit in his bid to become African basketball champion for the first time: former NBA recruit 7-foot-3-inch NBA draft pick Walter “Edy” Tavares.
The Real Madrid centre led his team to the AfroBasket semi-finals to face protective champions Tunisia on Saturday when Senegal face Ivory Coast in the other quarter-final encounter in the host city of Kigali, Rwanda.
While the FIBA tournament boasts the stellar force of the Olympic Games, it showcases the increasingly competitive and ever-improving quality of basketball on the continent. It also provides dual nationals and a handful of naturalized citizens, such as former UCLA star Michael Roll of Tunisia – the possibility of constituting a country.
The 260-pound Tavares, selected through the Atlanta Hawks at the time of the 2014 NBA Draft round, has been a force in his archipelago country of about 550,000.
Uganda had none for Tavares in their quarterfinal game on Thursday, when he scored 23 points and added 15 rebounds, five blocks and 4 assists. Cape Verde won 79-71.
Last week, Tavares, 29, scored 20 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks 11 times Angolan champion.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” his Tunisian counterpart Salah Mejri said of Saturday’s match. “Edy is a wonderful player. It is the most productive (center) in Europe. It’s not easy now. There are many wonderful men in Europe. “
Mejri, a slimmer 7-foot-2 midfielder who played for the Dallas Mavericks from 2015 to 2019, hopes to use his 3-point shot to keep Tavares away from the basket. to repel shots.
Mejri, 35, the tournament’s MVP in 2011 when Tunisia won for the first time, scored 3 goals from 3 points in their 80-65 win over South Sudan on Thursday. He finished with 20 numbers and seven rebounds. However, Mejri was only 1-of-8 away in his last 3 games.
Despite the defeat, South Sudan was hailed for reaching the quarter-finals on its AfroBasket debut. Luol Deng, the two-time NBA All-Star born in South Sudan, has built the country’s program since becoming president of the national basketball federation. after retiring as a player in 2019.
“We have something to be proud of,” said Coach Royal Ivey, who is an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets. “You can’t gain experience, you have to go through the fire. The South Sudan national team has the wind in its sails. “
Senegal’s big call is Gorgui Dieng, an eight-year NBA veteran who signed with the Hawks last month. Dieng, a first-round pick in the twenty-thirteenth NBA Draft, had thirteen problems and 15 rebounds in Senegal’s 79-74 quarterfinal victory. about Angola.
Ivorian point guard Stéphane Konaté said he would use his speed to counter Senegal’s size.
“We are smaller than them. We will use this weakness to our advantage,” Konate said. “I hope they run.
Ivory Coast rounded out the semifinals with a 98-50 win over Guinea, subsidized through 14 numbers and nine rebounds from Matt Costello. Costello played for Michigan State.
Senegal is a five-time champion and last won in 1997, while the time of the two Ivory Coast titles in 1985.
Cape Verde’s most productive result in third place in 2007.
“We have the most productive team Cape Verde has ever had,” said point guard Jeffrey Xavier, a Rhode Island local who played at Providence College. “We’re here in the semi-finals and I don’t think we’re done. what we have to understand, we are not finished. We need more. “
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