D’Tigers assistant coach, Mohammed Abdulrahman has admitted that the team’s slow start cost them when Nigeria battled host nation, Angola, at the 2023 AfroCan group match on Monday.

Angola triumphed, but narrowly, edging D’Tigers 48-57 points, to hand Nigeria a first defeat in the tournament.

The defeat puts the Coach Ogoh Odaudu-led side in a jam as they bid to reach the quarter-finals.

Whilst Angola gained automatic qualification to the last 8, as group B leaders (2-0), on the other hand, Nigeria will now have to play an extra game; a longer route to punch a QF ticket.

Abdulrahman told BRL, after the team’s loss on Monday that, “We were always going to have a tough game playing against the host nation who had the fans behind them.

“But we had a chance and could have been able to win, if we had started the way we ended the last two quarters where they closed the gap.

Nigeria trailed by double digits in the first half, but closed down the deficit to lose eventually by 9 points (9-19, 12-21, 21-9, 15-8).