Guinea's Unbeaten Run Gathers Steam with First-Ever Win Over Nigeria

Guinea's Unbeaten Run Gathers Steam with First-Ever Win Over Nigeria

For years, a match against Nigeria was a story with only one ending for Guinea's national basketball team, a loss. The record books were clear, tracing a winless streak back decades, but on a Saturday afternoon in Rades, they made history.

When the final horn sounded, the scoreboard told a story few had dared to predict, as it represented more than just a win and the overturning of a long-held narrative. With Guinea, Nigeria, Rwanda, and host Tunisia all taking to the floor, there was everything to play for.

Both Guinea and Tunisia won their opening games on Thursday, and from the tip-off, it was clear Guinea was intent on maintaining their winning ways. But standing in their way was a familiar opponent: Nigeria. In the only two encounters between the teams, D'Tigers held a 2-0 head-to-head lead from the 2023 qualifiers, a campaign that ended in disappointment for both sides, as neither qualified for the World Cup.

The electric partnership of Souleyman Boum Jr. and Shannon Evans forged the victory, combining for 40 points. They dismantled Nigeria's defence piece by piece, at one point stretching their lead to a commanding 19 points and leaving the once-favoured D'Tigers searching for answers. In Nigeria, Morris Udeze was the only player to score 16 points in the game.

This wasn't about one bad quarter or a few sloppy possessions. Guinea controlled the game almost from start to finish. From the opening, the Guineans had got off to a good start with Boum Jr finding the basket barely less than a minute into the game, before Nigeria got on the board with a quick response from Jordan Ogundiran, who scored a shot from behind the arc to give DTigers the lead.

A further two points from the charity line made the Nigerians look a bit comfortable, but Evans tied the game after a step-back shot from behind the arc. The Guineans were not going to back down after the early exchanges and went on a scoring run that saw them peg the Nigerians at six points, closing out the opening quarter 22–16.

The second quarter didn't see as many points as the first, but the Guineans ensured they extended their lead, kept Nigeria from finding the basket, and forced them into turnovers. With less than three minutes left on the clock, they had already established a ten-point lead in the game (34-24) before eventually edging it 13-10 and heading into halftime leading by nine points, 35-26.

One would have expected the Nigerians to come out fighting and fixing all their loopholes in the second half. Still, it wasn't meant to be as Guinea, who looked hungrier, stayed in the game closely despite DTigers pushing for a comeback that saw them lose in the third quarter by just two points (17–15).

The D'Tigers then continued the chase throughout the game, failing to win a quarter and never really finding a settled rhythm offensively, as they went on to lose the last quarter by just three points. The damage had already been done in the opening two quarters.

This historic triumph arrives on the heels of another stunning achievement: a win over South Sudan, the continent's top-ranked team, that confirms a profound shift. The team that once returned from tournaments with a winless record is now the one causing upsets.

With a flawless 2-0 record in the World Cup qualifiers, Guinea is no longer the underdog. They are the threat. Their win was about discipline. They ran their sets cleanly, defended hard, and minimised mistakes. Nigeria, by contrast, struggled with familiar issues: rushed possessions, poor spacing, and turnovers at the wrong time, the type that saw them lose the opening game against Tunisia.

Now, Nigeria sits at the bottom of Group C at 0–2, while Guinea tops the group at 2–0. Sunday's game against Rwanda is no longer just a match; a win is needed, as it will define whether this qualification window is a slow start or a real setback.

[Photography Courtesy of FIBA]