Ugandan Basketball experienced a lot of ups and downs in 2024 and for most of the year, things went fairly well until the rather unexpected ending.

There were many more National team activities, more money deals, local fun activities and so much more.

At the National team level, the success was immense, more so at the age grade level, and despite the seniors not having very many engagements, it was a fair performance overall.

BetPawa Deal

The biggest win for Uganda Basketball was the 2.6 billion deal that FUBA signed with BetPawa.

The money will be used to supplement the team’s finances in accommodation, travel and so much more.

Additionally, there is a locker room bonus of 150,000 for each player every time either the Silverbacks or the Gazelles win the game.

This deal is a game-changer and it will immensely help more so in the 2025 Afrobasket Qualifiers in February.

U18 Afrobasket Qualifiers

The U18 Gazelles and Silverbacks brought a lot of joy to Ugandans after a very successful U18 Afrobasket Zone V Qualifiers.

The youngsters dominated in both the boys and the girls categories, winning with a 100% record and qualifying for the U18 Afrobasket in South Africa.

Junior Gazelles finish 4th at the U18 Afrobasket

The Junior Gazelles were very hot at the U18 Afrobasket in South Africa where they reached the semifinals and ultimately finished fourth.

The girls registered a big win against Nigeria in the group stages and shocked Tunisia in the quarter-finals but they couldn’t get past Nigeria on the second time of asking.

Despite not qualifying for the World Cup, the team put up a show and had one of their players, Resty Nanangwe (20.3 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 2.0 APG) in the team of the tournament.

The boys lost all their 5 games but they showed a lot of promise and talent.

U23 3×3 Gazelles win Youth Nations League

Uganda hosted the FIBA 3X3 Youth Nations League Africa, which also doubled as a World Cup qualifier, and the Ladies emerged victorious.

The girls won 4 of the 6 stops while their biggest competitor Guinea won the other 2.

Uganda reached the finals in all 6 stops but failed to win on the second and final day.

Additionally, Uganda had the MVP, Lydia Babirye who had played 3×3 for her very first time but was the one pulling all the strings for Uganda.

The Men had an underwhelming performance and did not win any stop despite reaching th3 finals twice.

They only won 55% of their games and finished 3rd overall, missing out on qualification to the world cup.

U23 3×3 Gazelles at the World Cup

At the World Cup in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, it was very tough for the girls but they managed to get valuable experience.

Uganda lost all their 4 games in the group stages and finished 19/20 but what surprised most people was the exclusion of Lydia Babirye, who had been the MVP in the Qualifiers, from the team.

At that same time, Mary Amaniyo had also departed for her studies at UTEP in America.

Akello Winnifred, Becky Keren  Longom, Shillah Lamunu Aber and Mary Priscilla Nambogo (replacement for Lydia) represented at the tournament.

Silverbacks win 1/3 at the Afrobasket Qualifiers Window 1

The goal for Uganda ahead of the first window of the 2025 Afrobasket was to register a victory and they managed to do that.

Uganda registered 1 win, 72-62 against Nigeria and 2 losses, 78-73 and 71-59 against Cape Verde and Libya respectively.

The Silverbacks lacked the services of a couple of players and had 2 players who made their debuts, Edgar Munaba and Joel Paul Kayiira.

In February 2025 in the final window, the squad could be quite different as the Silverbacks try to qualify for a third consecutive Afrobasket.

2 wins in the 3 games could guarantee Uganda passage to the Afrobasket but the biggest mission will be to defeat Nigeria again.

Gazelles trip to Germany

The girls had a trip to Germany in which they got to work with the new Coach Goran Lojo and also get what was described as “team bonding”

Most people were not happy with the trip as it put the local league on hold for about 2 weeks and some people did not see the point of it.

Nonetheless, the trip was a success, and the objectives were fulfilled.

Around this time, the new Captains were revealed, Jane Asinde and Hope Akello as the assistant.

4 of the players who had represented at the 2023 Afrobasket did not travel, Flavia Oketcho, Ritah Imanishimwe, Brenda Ekone, and Evelyne Nakiyinji, and word has it that they may not represent again at the National team level.

3×3 Africa Cup

The 3×3 Africa Cup was a disaster in terms of performance.

The ladies lost their 2 games and finished 6/7 while the men won 1 and lost 3 games, finishing 9/10.

The players cited poor /lack of preparation and they say they were informed last minute and it was as though they just went to participate.

U18 3×3 miss out on the World Cup

This was the biggest disappointment when it comes to the National Team activities.

The 18 Boys and Girls missed out on the World Cup due to reasons that have yet to be disclosed.

The event was happening around the same time that U18 Afrobasket was going on and with the financial difficulties that the team that traveled to South Africa had experienced, it was going to be difficult seeing the other teams travel to Hungary.

In general, most National Team Activities were successful and we hope that things only get better in 2025.