Paris 2024: FIBA congratulates D'Tigress on historic ticket to quarter-finals

Basketball’s world governing body FIBA has congratulated Nigeria’s D’Tigress following his historic qualification to the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympic Games.

D’Tigress bounced back from a loss to hosts France with a 79-70 win over Canada.

This is the team’s second win in three group stage matches, as they temporarily occupy first place.

Reacting to the victory, FIBA wrote in its X: “First African team (men’s or women’s) to play in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games:

“This is Nigeria!”

After winning their first Olympic match since 2004, beating Australia 75-62 in the first group match on July 29, D’Tigress beat Canada on Sunday, August 4.

Ezinne Kalu led Nigeria with 21 points, while Shay Colley led the Canadians with 17 points.

The first half was evenly matched, with Canada struggling to stay in contention to advance, even holding a four-point lead at halftime.

However, coming out of the break, D’Tigress applied pressure that the Canadiens simply couldn’t handle and never recovered from.

Nigeria outscored Canada 23-5 in the third quarter, including a 15-0 run to open an eight-point lead. Midway through the fourth quarter, the lead had become an insurmountable 17 points as the deal was sealed.

Nigeria shot 45 percent from the field and 38 percent from deep, but their defense was the catalyst for the crucial win. D’Tigress held Canada to just 37 percent shooting overall, including a dismal 5-26 from long range.

They forced 26 Canadian turnovers that were converted into 27 points on the other end, a huge deciding factor in a game with such high stakes. Of those 26 turnovers, Nigeria had 16 steals.

Another big difference in the game was the free throw shooting. Canada reached the line 22 times but converted only 15 of those attempts, while Nigeria went 14-17.

Combining turnovers and missed free throws with poor shooting performance was a recipe for disaster for the Canadians, who finished the race to Paris 2024 winless.

Nigeria’s defence continues to be the identity of the group after putting on another clinic at that end of the pitch. In their surprise win over Australia, they forced 26 turnovers, including 15 interceptions.

Despite losing to France 75-54 on August 1, D’Tigress forced 17 more turnovers and made nine steals. In total, in three group matches, Nigeria forced 69 turnovers from their opponents, including 40 steals.