Former presidential aide, Dr. Doyin Okupe says the victory of Nigeria’s senior basketball team, D’Tigers against their US counterparts “is one of the beauties of our diversity”.
Okupe, who was Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, stated this in a Facebook post on Sunday morning to celebrate the historic win.
The Herald can report that D’Tigers beat the US national team 90-87 in an exhibition game in Las Vegas.
It is also the first time an African nation would defeat the basketball superpower, which is also Olympics bound.
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Okupe noted that the D’Tigers team that achieved the feat boasted 13 players of South-East origin and one each from the South-West and South-South zones.
He wrote:
BREAKING NEWS
BASKET BALL
NIGERIA VS USA
90 87
THE WINNER IS NIGERIA!!!
Interestingly the team make up is:
SE 13
SW 1
SS 1
THE IGBOS ARE TRULY A GREAT PEOPLE.
This is one of the beauties of our Diversity.
Nigeria a great people and a great Nation.
CONGRATULATIONS
Meanwhile, Nigeria first met the U.S. team in the 2012 Olympic Games, where D’Tigers lost 156-73 — a whopping 83 points loss and 110-66 when both sides last met.
The U.S. team led by Head Coach Mike Brown were highly competitive in the game, boasting eight players with vast experience in U.S. NBA club sides.
Nigeria’s Gabe Vincent of U.S. Miami Heats led the floor for D’Tigers with 21 points, while Kelvin Durant led the floor for the U.S. side with 17 points.
The exhibition game was put together to fine-tune both teams’ preparations for the forthcoming basketball event in the Summer Olympics, holding in Tokyo, Japan.