Natuhereza preaches aggressive approach

Natuhereza is fired up for the task

KAMPALA- Like a leopard that never changes its spots, Nicholas Natuhereza is hoping that his national under-18 basketball team mirrors his club, UCU Canons.

His National Basketball League side, perennial losing semifinalists before a maiden final appearance last year, are known for their aggression.

That often comes off the wrong way with many. In fact, he has previously fought allegations of being ‘dirty’. Nothing will change with the principled tutor. “We will play aggressive and scrap for everything on defence,” Natuhereza said ahead of the Fiba Africa U-18 Championships starting today in Rwanda.
“With that hopefully, we can get some transition. Clearly our strength is not shooting though it’s an area we can improve and we don’t have much presence on the post,” he added.
The latter two largely represent the game in Uganda today.

During the two-day two-team Fiba Africa Zone V qualifiers against Kenya, Arion Osama and Mathew Samuel Ochieng averaged double-digit rebounds to epitomize something Natuhereza’s teams do well.

The tournament, in which Uganda is appearing for the first time, has 13 teams taking part. Uganda’s opponents include continental giants Algeria, Angola, Tunisia and Egypt.
Other participating teams are; Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, Benin, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Gabon and hosts Rwanda to bring the tally to 13.

The winner and runners-up will punch their tickets to the 2017 Fiba U-19 World Cup in the Cairo, the first to be held in Africa.

League results
Our Saviour 55-57 Ndejje
WOMEN: UCU 73-68 A1