‘We didn’t play our game, we were not ourselves,’ says D’Tigress coach, Wakama after 75-54 defeat to France

Nigeria head coach, Rene Wakama says her team’s huge 75-54 loss to France in their second group game of the Paris 2024 Olympics was down to the team not playing as much as they did in their stunning win over Australia on Monday.

The Nigerians scored 54 points, their lowest in a single game at the Olympics and have now lost three games by more than 20 points in the competition and two of those happened against France (on Thursday and in the 2020 edition (87-62).

‘We didn’t play our game. We were not ourselves. What helped us secure the win on Monday we didn’t bring today. It’s tough when you let another team shoot 63 percent inside the paint. It’s hard to beat anybody. We need to get back to our ways,’ said Wakama.

France head coach, Jean-Aime Toupane, however believes D’Tigress were a hard nut to crack.

‘We are expecting a lot from this team. But this wasn’t an easy game for us. It was very important to get these two wins and to get to Paris. We really wanted to make sure we could get there. We want to go their and we want to finish at the top,’ he said.