UCU bank on Wundi for x-factor against Titans
UCU Canons’ Wundi elevates for the bucket in Game Two of the playoffs. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
KAMPALA. It’s that time of the year when every basketball coach is desperate for something different from his roster beyond the customary actors. That’s what the playoffs are about.
Two games into the Pepsi Fuba League five-game semifinals and Steven Wundi is staking a claim, much so that his UCU Canons’ coach Nicholas Natuhereza is starting to gravitate towards the shooter.
And it has nothing to do with his numbers. His 12 points in the series-leveling 83-63 blowout of KIU Titans on Friday night the Lugogo MTN Arena may not look that attractive.
It’s the Kenyan shooting guard’s efficiency that’s stunning. Wundi jumped off the bench and converted on four of his six attempts from beyond the arc in 16.45 minutes.
That Wundi effect is exactly what Natuhereza hopes for in Game Three at YMCA court today, a duel whose importance he said “cannot describe in words.”
“His making shots makes it easier for us,” Natuhereza told Daily Monitor. “And he is athletic enough to defend so we need him big time.”
Then came the defining endorsement. “Could be an X-factor of sorts for us,” he added.
The law student is playing his first year with the Canons after being promoted from the defunct UCU JV where he was the best scorer in Division One. For a team that heavily relies on their inside game, Wundi may still need to feed off crabs. Despite their fluctuations, big men Ivan Lumanyika and Desmond Owili characterize them.
The pair combined for 34 points and 23 rebounds on Friday against the significantly smaller KIU. They had 27 rebounds, Lumanyika drawing 21, and 18 points in the 64-63 Game One loss.
Seven turnovers was a tip in but KIU will know suffocating the pair is a start of taking what could be a definitive game in this series. On the other hand, UCU are getting away with murder, allowing KIU 79 three-point attempts over the course of two games.
Coach Hamza Nyambogo is cursing the inefficiency in the only area they have an advantage over UCU- guards.
From the 79, only 10 have sunk! If only Wundi was on their roster…
