Nigeria national men’s basketball team, the D’Tigers, will face heavyweights, United States of America (USA), in a friendly game in preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The American team are on a quest to win a third consecutive Olympic gold medal and will play the West Africans as part of a five-game playing tour which also includes China and Venezuela.
“We’ll face some excellent and experienced international teams, which will be important in our preparations,” U.S. coach, Mike Krzyzewski, said in a statement.
“Playing five exhibition games in the United States in front of home crowds will be memorable for our players and fans alike, and we look forward to representing the United States in the best manner we can.”
The U.S. team will be starting out against Argentina on July 22 at a Las Vegas site to be determined.
They will then move to California for games against the Chinese on July 24 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and July 26 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, home of the NBA champions, Golden State Warriors.
That will be followed by a game on July 29 at the United Center in Chicago against Venezuela, which qualified for the Olympics by winning last summer’s FIBA Americas championship, before the tour wraps up in Houston on August 1 against African champions, Nigeria.
For Will Voigt’s team, it presents the opportunity to test their might against the very best in the world – with NBA superstars such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Stephen Curry on parade for the Dream Team.
The defending African champions are drawn in Group B alongside host, Brazil, Argentina and Spain, with three other teams to be decided during the playoff. While the Americans will face Venezuela, China and Australia in Group A, while two teams from the qualifying tournament will join them.
The D’Tigers will hope to put up a better performance against the Americans this time having been crushed by 83 points four years ago at the London Olympics.
