Earlier today, September 7, Nigeria’s D’Tigress will take on France in their last Group B game at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin for pride.
D’Tigress have already been eliminated after dropping their first two games. They lost 99-81 to South Korea and Hungary beat them 71-67 on Saturday.
It was a setback that ended Nigeria’s hope of making it out of the group with little more than pride at stake against France as they look to finish their campaign on a high note with a win.
But their early exit has also thrown up questions about the team’s preparation, particularly the limited involvement of head coach Rena Wakama in the run up to the tournament.
Ahead of the World Cup, Wakama told the BBC that she had only learned a few days prior to heading to Berlin that she would be joining the team after some of the build-up period with WNBA side Chicago Sky.
She arrived late, joining D’Tigress just four days to their opening game. By then the team had already done a large part of its pre-tournament program in the United States, China and Spain.
Wakama’s absence dates back to April, when the Nigeria Basketball Federation said she would miss the team’s US tour because of her commitments to the Chicago Sky.
Assistant coach Wani Muganguzi led D’Tigress in warm-up games against WNBA sides Los Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx on the trip.
Muganguzi was at the helm for both games as Nigeria fell 89-63 to the Sparks before showing a better effort in an 88-79 defeat to the Lynx.
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The D’Tigress then went to China for more pre-tournament games and then back to Spain for more preparation – again without Wakama – before getting to Berlin.
Since Nigeria’s poor start to the World Cup, the lack of continuity has come under greater scrutiny and questions have also been asked about the squad’s quality and age.
Wakama admitted the result was tough to stomach after the defeat to South Korea and praised the togetherness of their opponents.
“It’s tough when your shots aren’t dropping. “I thought we had really good looks in the first half, great looks. We got to the line, but finished 12-23 at the line. “We just weren’t able to get it done,” she said.
