Bisons guard has his game in great shape, from A to Zz
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/10/2021 (1791 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
THE University of Manitoba Bisons are preparing to play their first basketball game in 19 months but Keiran Zziwa likely won’t have to shed any rust.
The fifth-year point guard played at AfroBasket, Africa’s continental men’s championship in Kigali, Rwanda, and helped the Ugandan national team to a sixth-place finish in early September.
The 23-year-old Winnipegger was originally recruited by Ugandan team reps via Twitter more than a year ago and dressed for a qualifying game against the host Moroccans July 8.
After a 10-day training camp, the Ugandans beat Morocco 77-65 and advanced to AfroBasket, where they went 1-2 in the group stage — beating Cameroon 80-66 and losing 88-86 to South Sudan and 93-55 to Senegal.
During the round of 16, Zziwa and the Ugandans toppled highly regarded Nigeria 80-68 to advance to a quarter-final matchup with Cape Verde, where they dropped a narrow 79-71 decision.
Zziwa said the team, coached by American George Galanopoulos of the NBA G League Texas Legends, came together quickly in hurried circumstances with many of the players unfamiliar with each other.
“It was the first time meeting all of them but throughout the practices in Morocco it was really easy to get along with them because there were a lot of great guys and very skilled individuals,” said Zziwa. “In AfroBasket play when we started prepping in Rwanda, it was just all coming together and playing more games we started to get better and better and build confidence.”
Zziwa, eligible to play for Uganda because his father is originally from that country, isn’t done with the national team and he plans to pursue a pro career once his university days is over.
“It was just a great life experience to go through and I was thankful for it,” said Zziwa. “Also that basketball across the globe is on the rise, especially now in Uganda after what we have done and what we accomplished. But also basketball is something that I really do love and want to keep pursuing after December and the experience just made me fall in love with the game even more.”
Zziwa also has a final Canada West season to look forward to.
The Bisons host the Lakehead University Thunderwolves in a pair of pre-season games Tuesday and Wednesday at Investors Group Athletic Centre before opening their conference schedule against the visiting Winnipeg Wesmen on Nov. 5.
Winnipeg and Manitoba also meet on Nov. 6 at the Duckworth Centre to complete the home-and-home series.
mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @sawa14