Mills’ addition boosts Morans’ qualification chances

An analytics and film-breakdown expert, Australian tactician Liz Mills joined national men’s basketball side Kenya Morans’ technical bench last week where her expertise is expected to increase Kenya’s chances of qualifying for the biennial Afrobasket.

Morans are in camp preparing for the second window of the Afrobasket qualifiers set for February 17 to 21 in Cameroon. The team will need to win at least one match in group B that has African powerhouses Angola, Senegal and Mozambique to book a slot to the continental showpiece after 27 years of missing out.

Mills is currently handling the team’s training alongside assistant coach Sadat Gaya as head coach Cliff Owuor is yet to join the team in training. Owuor is in Rwanda where he is said to have rejoined APR. Owuor had coached the Rwandese side for 13 years before returning home to manage United States International University (USIU) teams.

“Mills requested to join the team and help in preparations for the February event. Our focus, for now, is on qualifying for the Afrobasket. Her terms of engagement after the February window will then depend on the outcome of the qualifier. We are expanding the technical bench and both the federation and the management board agreed that her area of expertise is a huge addition to our preparations,” said Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Secretary-General Ambrose Kisoi.

The Australian has been coaching since she was 16 and has great knowledge of African basketball having been in the continent since 2011. Her association with African basketball began after she graduated with a degree in Sports Science and Sports Management in 2008.

She did a world tour and landed in Zambia where she was doing volunteer work. She returned in 2011 for the opening tournament of Zambia’s men’s national Super League. She approached Heroes Play United to run a training session and ended up working with the side for the rest of the season.

She led Heroes to the national championship and did the same for Matero Magic. Between 2011 and 2017 she coached club teams in Zambia, as well as the national university team, and was the assistant coach for their national team for the 2017 AfroBasket Qualifiers. She also did quest coaching for South Africa, Namibia and Kenya. She was in Kenya in 2015/16 as head of Zuku sponsored university league. She also handled the Cameroonian National team and most recently Rwanda's Patriots in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers.

“Mills brings expertise that will transform how Morans execute their plays. She has been here for a short period but we are already seeing the difference. Video analysis tells us which sets we are executing well and where we need to make adjustments. It also helps each player to be accountable for their actions on the floor. For instance, in Kigali during the first window of qualification, we had the worst shooting percentage in our group. That has pushed us to work on our shots,” expressed coach Gaya adding that he is enjoying working with Mills.