After their silver medal exploit at the just concluded 2017 Afrobasket tournament, D’Tigers will return home in the early hours of Monday with the exception of team captain, Ike Diogu who will head for United State of America due to family commitments.
The delegation which will be led by the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Engineer Musa Kida is expected to arrive through the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos at about 3:30am.
The 2015 champions who were just in camp for about 2 weeks before their title defence surpassed their pre-tournament expectation by getting to the finals, defeating continental powerhouses like Senegal and Cameroon in the quarter final and semi final.
Also: AfroBasket 2017: D’Tigers devour Cameroon 106-91 to book semi-final ticket
Although, Tunisia claimed the FIBA AfroBasket title after beating Nigeria 77-65 in Saturday’s Final in Tunis, D’Tigers and their fans will still have something to cheer about with Diogu awarded the Most Valuable Player Award.
D’Tigers captain who led by example emerged the tournament’s leading scorer with an average of 22 points per game while Nigerian guard Ikenna Iroegbu who made his Afrobasket debut for Nigeria was also named in the tournament’s best 5.
The 34 year old power forward who recorded a tournament-high also averaged 8.7 rebounds per game at the 16-team FIBA Africa’s most important competition.
Despite the loss against the host, it will be a tournament to remember for Diogu who was the tournament’s highest scorer with a total of 132 points as he powered the D’Tigers to the finals after emerging as the team’s highest points scorer in four of their six games.