How City Oilers players are performing in BAL Nile Conference

City Oilers are a team in trouble at the moment following their 0-2 start to proceedings in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nile Conference taking place in Cairo, Egypt.

With Sunday being a rest day for all four teams in the conference, the Ugandan champions will have to use that time to find answers to the tough questions being paused by opponents or risk missing out on the BAL Playoffs slated for late May in Kigali, Rwanda. 

Imports brought in to improve the team for the big stage have yet to impress and head coach Karim Nesba admitted a synergy between the players will have to be forged for better results in the last four games. 

BAL Elevate player Khaman Maluach is the youngest on the team but boasts the best stats from the first two games of the conference for the nine-time National Basketball League winners. 

The South Sudanese was one rebound short of a double-double in the team’s 99-76 loss to hosts and BAL defending champions Al Ahly. He came off the bench to score 16 points and gather nine rebounds in 25:58 minutes. 

Impressed with the performance, Nesba put Maluach in the starting lineup for Saturday’s clash with Bangui Sporting Club, and the 1-year-old repaid that faith with his first-ever BAL double-double of 29 points and 12 rebounds. 

He is currently averaging 22.5 points and 10.5 rebounds and has shown no signs of slowing down as the competition goes on. He shot 10-for-13 from the field and seven-for-nine from the charity line against Bangui to carry the Oilers on his back. 

Patrick Rembert came off the bench in the first game to score a team-high 21 points and pick six rebounds. He added four assists to earn a starting spot in the following game.

The guard has a strong drive to the basket and often got his way past defenders against Al Ahly to take Tonny Drileba’s starting place in the second game against Bangui.

He recorded 12 points and five assists in the 101-88 defeat and is currently averaging 16.5 points, three rebounds and five assists. 

Randy Culpepper Sr. is the other player who has been active on offence, his six-for-13 field goal rhythm leading to 15 points in the opener before adding 10 against Bangui on Saturday. 

He is one of the players commanding big minutes on the team and is averaging 12.5 points, three rebounds and three assists in the first two games. 

Dane Miller Jr. was one rebound short of a double-double on Saturday. He scored 13 points and gathered nine rebounds in 34 minutes to improve his averages to 10.5 points and eight rebounds. 

Muhammed Bashir Ahmed saw his minutes drop from 22:15 in the first game to 13 in the second. He was one of the three players to drop out of the starting lineup alongside Tonny Drileba and James Okello.

Having scored 14 against Al Ahly, Ahmed came off the bench to post 12 in Saturday’s defeat to Bangui. He is averaging 13 points at the moment. 

City Oilers’ biggest problem in the first two games has been about failing to get stop on the other end of the floor. That, coupled with the team’s lack of threat on the perimeter, has exposed weaknesses the opponents can exploit to cause major issues. 

Robinson Opong, one of the team’s best shooters, has struggled for consistent minutes on the floor while Fayed Baale, Ivan Muhwezi and Allawi Ssenkubuge have all yet to get any minutes. 

Al Ahly are currently top of the four-team log with a 2-0 record, closely followed by debutants Al Ahly Benghazi (1-1) and Bangui (1-1). City Oilers are bottom of the log and will need a good run in the remaining four games to qualify for Kigali.

Basketball Africa League 

Nile Conference 

Results

Al Ahly LY 93-71 Bangui 

Al Ahly 99-76 City Oilers 

Bangui 101-88 City Oilers 

Al Ahly 98-86 Al Ahly LY