2021 Rivers Hoopers season

The 2021 BAL season was the 1st season for the Rivers Hoopers of the Basketball Africa League. The team began the season on May 16, 2021, in the season opener against Rwanda's Patriots BBC.

Rivers Hoopers

2021 season
Head coach	Ogoh Odaudu
BAL	Group stage

Coming off a third Nigerian Premier League, the team of Ogoh Odaudu qualified for the inaugural BAL season. Ahead of the season, the Hoopers signed Ben Uzoh, along with the American duo Chris Daniels and Taren Sullivan. They also signed ex-NBA champion Festus Ezeli. However, Ezeli got injured and had to miss the season. He was later replaced by Robinson Opong.

Roster

Team

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Rivers Hoopers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 00 Balogun, Emmanuel 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 22 – (1998-12-17)17 December 1998 SG 2 Alalibo, Ronald 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 26 – (1994-05-08)8 May 1994 F 10 Nwaiwu, Onyebuchi 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – (1998-08-20)20 August 1998 C 11 Koko, Victor 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 23 – (1997-06-04)4 June 1997 PF 12 Ajegbeyi, Solomon 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 25 – (1995-11-02)2 November 1995 PG 14 Uzoh, Ben 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 32 – (1988-03-18)18 March 1988 SG 15 Opong, Robinson (I) 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 31 – (1989-05-10)10 May 1989 SF 21 Osigbodi, Precious 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 25 – (1995-07-07)7 July 1995 SG 22 Ikechukwu, Benjamin (C) 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 23 – (1997-06-04)4 June 1997 C 23 Ugo, Victor James 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 28 – (1992-12-14)14 December 1992 SF 24 Sullivan, Taren (I) 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 25 – (1995-07-30)30 July 1995 SG 33 Owoicho, Simon 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 25 – (1995-11-23)23 November 1995 C 55 Daniels, Chris (I) 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 36 – (1984-04-19)19 April 1984	Head coach Ogoh Odaudu Assistant coach(es) Johnson Orupabo Wilkinson Suobo Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: May 16, 2020

Additions

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Moving from		Date	Source
14	PG		Ben Uzoh	Paris		April 15, 2021
24	SF		Taren Sullivan	Erie BayHawks		April 16, 2021
55	C		Chris Daniels	Alaska Aces		April 16, 2021
15	SG		Robinson Opong	Saskatchewan Rattlers		April 22, 2021

Regular season

2021 game log Total: 1–2
May Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 19 May Patriots L 83–60 Taren Sullivan (15) Victor Koko (5) Ben Uzoh (4) Kigali Arena 2,000 0–1 2 20 May US Monastir L 70–99 Chris Daniels (25) Chris Daniels (11) Ben Uzoh (8) Kigali Arena 412 0–2 3 May 19 GNBC W 69–80 Taren Sullivan (19) Victor Koko (9) Three players (3) Kigali Arena TBD 1–2

Statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Source:

Rivers Hoopers statistics

Player	GP	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Ben Uzoh	3	3	29.1	55.9	0	66.7	4.7	5.3	1.0	0.7	14.7
Taren Sullivan	3	3	26.4	41.0	26.7	77.8	3.3	1.3	1.3	0.0	14.3
Chris Daniels	3	3	23.6	60.0	44.4	80.0	8.3	1.7	1.7	1.7	14.0
Benjamin Ikechukwu	3	3	23.4	25.0	23.1	–	4.0	1.3	1.0	0.3	7.3
Solomon Ajegbeyi	3	0	19.0	36.8	0	75.0	5.3	0.0	0.7	0.3	6.7
Victor Koko	3	3	20.8	27.8	0	33.3	8.3	1.3	0.0	2.3	4.0
Robinson Opong	3	0	17.4	15.8	8.3	–	3.3	2.0	1.0	0.0	2.3
Precious Saliu	3	0	9.3	16.7	22.2	33.3	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.3
Simon Ameh	3	0	8.9	25.0	33.3	100	0.7	1.3	0.3	0.0	2.3
Onyebuchi Nwaiwu	3	0	9.4	33.3	–	–	2.0	0.3	0.3	0.0	1.3
Emmanuel Balogun	3	0	8.8	20.0	0	–	0.3	1.3	0.3	0.0	0.7
Victor James Ugo	1	0	6.6	0	–	–	1.0	1.0	0	0	0
Ronald Alalibo	2	0	2.3	–	–	–	0.0	0.0	0	0	0