BAL 2023: KPA head coach draws plan for the Elite 16, hopes to re-adjust from past failings

The last week of November will present a unique opportunity for Kenya Basketball Federation side Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) as they look forward to being the first Kenyan team playing in the Basketball Africa League finals.

KPA, in many estimations, are a quarter-way done, forcing their way into the second round of the Road to BAL 2023 qualifiers after the first group stage knockouts.

The Dockers in mid-October finished second in Group D of the West Division qualifiers, securing the biggest win in the first knockout-phase in a 120-37 demolition of Comoros Islands’ side Djabal Basket Iconi.

The win was however followed up with a loss, KPA falling second best to Malagasy’s COSPN in a 66-60 score-line, a result that saw them go through to the next round albeit second place finishers.

With the Elite 16 draw confirmed, KPA find themselves in Group A of the East Division alongside hosts Cape Town Tigers, invitational side NBA Academy and Burundi’s Urunani.

The top two finishers from the group meet the top two from the other East Division group, Group B, for a grueling round of semifinals, finals and a third place matchup.

Group B teams include Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique), Cobra Sports (South Sudan), City Oilers (Uganda) and the aforementioned COSPN of Madagascar. The games kick off on 15-20 November.

ROAD TO BAL 2023: ELITE 16 Groups confirmed

To provide more insight on the journey ahead, KPA head coach Samuel Kiki speaks to Mozzart Sport, breaking down his reactions to the draw plus the team's roadmap.

“We honestly expected a tough draw, given the caliber of the eight teams we were pooled together. The outcome therefore speaks for itself but we know what to do.

“The other sides are really good, Urunani, I watched their games in Dar es Salaam, they are a good side and so are Cape Town Tigers and NBA Academy, who I think have a collection of very talented players across Africa. It is manageable to get out of this group but with a plan,” Kiki notes.

“We do not plan to think ahead of where we are. Our plans will shift towards handling every game at a time, with the key thing getting out of our pool first. The rest will come later as we progress,” the former KPA guard adds.

Vital team experience

In 2019, KPA were in the same situation as now, made it through to the second round of the inaugural BAL qualifiers but missed a step. Majority of the current local players were part of the disappointing journey and coach Kiki believes that their scars will motivate them more towards turning the odds to their favor.

“Given that there are a couple of new faces set to make their debuts in the BAL qualifiers, the team also comprises players who competed in 2019, a really important part to easing the nerves around," he said,

“A key thing for us also, and with special thanks to the KPA management, is that we saw this coming early enough and the entire team was granted the opportunity to travel to the 2021 BAL Finals in Kigali early this year. The trip I would say made us learn a lot, including what goes around with preparation and more so, the players knowing what will be expected from them when the big stage comes by,” he added.

Interestingly, an optimistic long shot of KPA’s journey to the BAL Finals from the groups would include facing off against familiar foes, Ferroviario da Beira and Cobra Sports, who they played in 2019, winning both games.

Beefing up the current squad

October offered Samuel Kiki and his technical bench an opportunity to gauge the team. Mixed results in the first round of qualifiers exposed the team and changes have to be made.

“It was clear from the qualifiers that we needed help. It is the team’s idea to add more professional players to our squad. I can confirm that we have identified three players in the positions we feel are lacking at the moment, shooting guard, forward and center. The next thing for us will be to narrow down to only one player in each position. This will be done in the coming week,” he said, adding the undesired impacts from their foreign players in Madagascar, Wade Lowman and Tony Terrell Townsend.

FIBA Africa allows the BAL participating teams to add up two Africans and two players from outside Africa in their squads, Kiki further revealing that the few additions won’t come from Kenya.

Adjustments

As technical teams do, a post mortem to a team loss is important. There was much in the loss to COSPN that Kiki and his team wanted to see changed.

“We didn’t do so many things that day. We failed to execute our offense, had lots of turnovers and allowed our opponents to run through us, albeit showing effort to stop them from shooting from three,” he noted.

True to his word, KPA had a game high 27 turnovers against COSPN, 10 more against the Malagasy side on 30% shooting from the field, only knocking 21 of their 70 attempted shots.

Another concern for the team was their free throw shooting, most notably in the Djabal game, where they converted only 21 of their 47 attempts on the free throw line.

“Our goal in training will be to first strengthen our defense. We pride ourselves on being the best defenders in our league but we have to take that form in Johannesburg. Working on our shots will be important, not only shot selection but also the creation part. We need to find our offensive rhythm and protect the ball better,” Kiki noted.

KPA find themselves in Group A of the East Division alongside hosts Cape Town Tigers, invitational side NBA Academy and Burundi’s Urunani.

Coaching line-up

“I cannot state who will be in our technical bench as of now. Who calls the plays will be a decision the management will make in the coming week.”

The coaching team in Madagascar consisted of Kenya Moran’s Cliff Owour as head coach with Samuel Kiki, KPA women’s Anthony Ojukwu and Oloo as assistants.

Team Logistics

Drawing back from the 2019 experience, where KPA travelled late and missed a game that eventually cost them the opportunity to take further part in the inaugural BAL tournament qualifiers, coach Kiki is confident that there is more support now towards their journey.

The team manager in a few words stated, “The Authority has always given the sports teams full support. More will come in the days leading up to the qualifiers.”

What a ticket to BAL would mean for Kenya

“Getting through to the BAL Finals would be such a great mark for Kenyan basketball. The path has already been set by our national teams, Morans and the Lionesses in the AfroBasket tournaments, ours is to keep that fire burning.

“I hope that our success can take us to a point of receiving automatic byes for the main finals,” Kiki concluded, adding that team training will begin on Monday in Mombasa, ahead of the charge to Johannesburg later this month.