MyBasketball

During the Zone VI qualifiers taking place in Pretoria, Mybasketball sat down with the Zimbabwean National ladies coach, Ronald Garura and his captain, Fadzai  Mabasa and here is what they had to say:

Interview with Ronald Garura

Ronald Garura

Going into today’s game (Zimbabwe vs. Mozambique, game 1) what would you say that the player’s mindset was as well as yours? Umm… I think we really have the same mind-set going into every game, we respect our opponents but we do not fear them. We go out there and give it our best and play according to our plan, that way we can assess if we achieved our goals- whatever the outcome of our game. Read the rest of this entry →

Men: SA vs. Malawi

Basketball is a numbers game. 47; that’s how many points Malawi scored in their first game against Zimbabwe. 47; that’s how many points they scored against Mozambique. Malawi came into this game having lost their last two games by a combined total of 96 points. Therefore, fans expected South Africa to come in and tear them up from the beginning, but Malawi had other plans.  They started this game on a 5-0 run and South Africa seemed out of sync to begin it. The first quarter was an unimpressive 9-9 yawner that had fans shifting uncomfortably in their seats wondering what was happening to the South African squad.

Read the rest of this entry →

Ladies: SA vs. Zimbabwe

The highly anticipated matchup between Zimbabwe and South Africa’s women’s teams lived up to its hype. In a game that was the fastest paced so far in the tournament, there was no clear favourite and both teams fought tooth and nail till the final buzzer. This game featured 3 lead changes and 5 times when the score was tied. Zimbabwe started off the game in a man to man defense, and South Africa countered that by running a high screen and roll offense. South Africa’s shots were not in the first 4 minutes of the game, and Zimbabwe got off to a running start, largely in part to 8 first quarter points by Helina Nyagato (8). But South Africa quickly rallied back when Gabisile Ndlangamandla (5) provided a much needed spark off the bench to finish the quarter tied at 15-15. The two teams continued to trade baskets and play stingy defense for much of the second period and the game was tied at 28-28 heading into half time.

Read the rest of this entry →

Ladies: Mozambique vs. Zambia

Day four of the tournament was a hoops-fest featuring two blowout wins and two very tightly contested games. Four games in total, so much basketball to discuss, let’s begin.  Mozambique women played Zambia in what can best be described as a David vs Goliath matchup. In a game where Mozambique had seven players scoring in double figures, and every one of the 12 players scoring, Zambia was overmatched in each and every category. Mozambique had a 55-24 rebounding advantage, grabbing more offensive rebounds (28) than Zambia’s total rebounds. They also record 29 thefts, as this fuelled their transition game. They gave out 34 assists while Zambia only recorded 10, they made 80% of their free throws, converted on about 51% of their field goal attempts and had a decent 29.7% success rate from beyond the arc. Zambia had 50 turnovers, which at this point is a tournament high. In summary, Mozambique torched Zambia for 42 points in the first quarter, which matched Zambia’s final point total. A lopsided victory goes to undefeated Mozambique as they took this one 123 – 42. Stat of the game: Annabel Costa (6) played in only 9 minutes 57 seconds and notched a game high 19 points, along with 2 assists and 2 rebounds.
Read the rest of this entry →

Neo Mothiba

THE sweet taste of victory for the South African senior men’s basketball team in their opening game against Zimbabwe brought along with it a bitter injury blow to team captain Neo Mothiba.

Mothiba landed awkwardly on his left foot in the second quarter during the host nation’s 70-61 victory over their cross-border neighbours in the Fiba Zone VI Games at the University of Pretoria’s indoor centre on Sunday and he did not take part in the team practice yesterday at the match venue. Team coach Flosh Ngwenya lamented the loss of his skipper, but was still confident that he enough material in his squad to do the business for the team in the competition, which serves as qualifier for the for the All Africa Games to held September in Mozambique and the Afrobasket competition to be held in the Ivory Coast. Read the rest of this entry →