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Galanopoulos proud of Silverbacks effort despite loss to Cape Verde
Uganda’s best run at the FIBA AfroBasket ended with Silverbacks’ quarterfinals exit at the 2021 tournament on Thursday night.
The Silverbacks of Uganda fell to Cape Verde 79-71 at Kigali Arena in a game head coach George Galanopoulos is convinced was winnable.
“There’s a lot of emotion right now,” Galanopoulos said in the post-game press conference flanked by one of Uganda’s best performers on the night James Okello. “When you really truly, with all your heart, believe that you are going to win and that you got the group to do it and you think there’s kind of divine power on your side and it doesn’t go that way, it’s a little disappointing.”
The Islanders’ center Walter Tavares troubled Silverbacks’ inside defense all night and the task of stopping the big man was designated to back up center James Okello who played his tournament-high 23 minutes.
“I’m definitely not disappointed in our effort. I have never been more proud of a group my entire life, their fight especially this guy right here (James Okello). He exemplifies everything that our team is all about. You saw him he is a 6’4” backup center battling his butt off with one of the best bigs in Europe arguably an NBA player 7’3” and to see just the fight that he put up every single possession it makes really proud and that’s a microcosm of what our team is all about.”
Galanopoulos says the game came down to Silverbacks failing to capitalize on the turnovers but feels the future of the national team is bright.
“I’m extremely excited for the future. I told the guys in the locker room they should be proud of themselves. I wish I could have done a little bit more personally to put them in positions to succeed, especially offensively today. I think the key of the game was our inability to capitalize off their turnovers. They had 22, we didn’t turn the ball over but we just didn’t shoot it well. Besides that, you can look at all the other numbers.”
Next up for Uganda are FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 qualifiers that start in November.
