L. MathekaMufutu calls for consistency as shaky Warriors head to playoffs
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 04.04.23. | 10:40
The side is likely to finish third on the regular league log behind KPA and Dumas.
Former Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men’s league champions Ulinzi Warriors have completed their regular league matches on a worrying note, losing their last two matches.
Head coach Bernard Mufutu has his work cut out as he prepares the squad for the highly-competitive playoffs where the military side will look to reclaim the title they won in 2019.
In their last two outings, they lost 58-57 to title-hopefuls Equity Dumas and 64-52 on Sunday 2 April, their last match of the regular season, to holders Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).
The dockers dominated the match on almost all fronts, outscoring Warriors on the paint by far with 44 points against 18 for the soldiers who appeared cagey from the get go and barely attacked the basket. Mufutu’s men only led in fast-break points with 17 against KPA’s 13.
“Our execution on offense has not been good in the last two matches. We gave KPA the opportunity to score many points on second-chance balls and that’s how we lost the game.
Our reading of the game was poor, we took many bad shots, committed many fouls and defensively we were not good either. We have some work to do with our rebounding, boxing out and individual slides in one-on-one situations,” offered Mufutu after the KPA match.
The tactician took positives in the team’s attempt for a comeback against KPA in the second half but called for consistency going forward.
Eric Mutorro in action for the Ulinzi Warriors @ulinzi_warriors #kenyabasketball #ulinziwarriors pic.twitter.com/q9Bb6TbL8T
— Woopy Sport News (@WoopyNews) April 2, 2023
“We had a glimmer of hope during the second half rally against KPA. It was a positive thing but we could not sustain it. We need to be consistent to win matches. Those runs have to be maintained for positive results. We pick lessons from the last two games and will build on them ahead of the playoffs,” the tactician added.
This is Mufutu’s first season in charge of he team, having taken over from William Balozi at the beginning of the season. The side also experienced a change in squad with some key players leaving as others joined.
