UJ have been impressive in Varsity Basketball 2019 after falling short in 2018, but were reminded on Thursday that concentration is key in all matches.
UJ began their campaign by winning all four of their matches last weekend, including an impressive win over hosts and defending champions Wits. Their first game back this week, however, didn’t go as well as they narrowly suffered their first defeat to Tuks, 73-68.
UJ head coach Mandla Ngema lamented the complacency which crept into their game on Thursday evening, against a Tuks team who have already ‘giant-killed’ during this year’s tournament.
“We prepared well, but complacency with a young players is usually the issue, hence the result in today’s game,” Ngema told varsitysportssa.com at Wits Sports Hall.
“Tuks deserved to beat us because we simply didn’t show up today except maybe in the last two or three minutes, but I guess it’s a wake up call for us, with a lot that will be learned ahead of our next game.”
Ngema then spoke on getting his team to bounce back from the Tuks loss by using their heartbreak from the 2018 semi-final loss to UCT as a lesson and source of fuel to do better.
“This loss today was a big wake up call, so it’s going to be really easy to get the boys up and running again because last year’s loss to UCT still rings loud in our ears. Today reminded us of that a little but we will be up for our next game as it is against one of our big rivals the VUT and we still have another tough fixture against the UKZN, who we played in the USSA final this year, so the guys will have to be switched on for every game going forward.”
By S’fiso Nyawo
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