The Uganda U16 Boys team qualified for the 2025 FIBA U16 African Championship in Rwanda after defeating Kenya and Tanzania at the qualifiers in Kibaha, Tanzania.

The boys registered a 71-45 win against Tanzania in the decider and a 63-36 victory over kenya in the first game.

They lost to Rwanda 91-64 but this was more of a friendly game and did not count for much.

With the fact that Uganda had won the 2023 U16 Zone V Qualifiers, the 2025 class knew the task ahead of them and were ready for the challenge. 

When the team arrived on Wednesday night, they experienced adversity as no accommodation had been prepared by the hosts.

The team moved around trying to find accommodation in the night but were unable to.

In the end, they resolved to return to the games village (Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School) and slept in the bus and the lounge.

However, a room was found for them and they all went there and tried to sleep on the floor.

Regardless of all this, the boys were still very resolute and in high spirits.

One important thing that helped them was the famous Hudson rant.

He had a back and forth with the FIBA Africa Zone V President and one of the commissioners and this showed the boys that Uganda wasn’t to be messed with.

All the boys had to do was perform on the court but everything else was going to be taken care of, that is what that ‘Hudson’ rant signified.

Fortunately, Uganda played against Kenya, a side that had arrived a few hours to the game and was more disorganized.

In the first half, both team went neck and neck with the scores being 28-25, Uganda in the lead.

However, the tiredness set in and in the second half and the Kenyans couldn’t get going offensively.

Uganda also applied a lot of pressure on the Kenyans who started making multiple turnovers.

The Junior Silverbacks kept scoring points from turnovers and by the end of the third quarter, Uganda led the game 47-28 and there was surely no way back for Kenya.

In the fourth, the Ugandan boys kept doing their thing and managed to register a 27-point victory in the end.

Ahead of the next game against Rwanda, the team had a film session, and despite the win, the boys got to see a lot of the mistakes that they made.

The coaches and the Head of Delegation also gave huge speeches about what the goal of team was at the tournament.

In these speeches, it was revealed that the starters would not play much and that the game of Rwanda was just a friendly.

The main game was the one of Tanzania and not playing the starters was just a precaution.

As expected, the twins Shane and Shammah Kwizera did not play while Joshua Bwakanda, Shadrack Bukenya and Silver Odoi played less than 10 minutes each.

Uganda trailed by 4 points with about 3 minutes to go in the third quarter.

However, for the remainder of the game, it was all Rwanda.

They outscored Uganda 36-13 in the remainder of the game to win 91-64.

Despite the loss, Uganda knew what the mission was and the main game was the next one.

To make matters even more interesting, Tanzania won their game against Kenya, 80-74, and it was a winner qualifies scenario.

On Saturday 14th, the 2 teams took center stage with a lot at stake.

Tanzania had the home crowd behind them but one thing played in Uganda’s advantage.

Tanzania’s lethal player, Ramadhani Ibrahim, who had dropped 38 points against Kenya, was out due to the suspected age cheating.

This took a huge psychological toll on the Tanzania team and Uganda had an edge over them in terms of mental readiness for the game.

In the first quarter, Tanzania’s Raphael made 3 triples and they took the lead 17-11.

However, from the second quarter onwards, Uganda adjusted tactically and Tanzania couldn’t generate any offense.

Uganda outscored Tanzania 21-12 in the second quarter to take a 3-point lead into the halftime break.

The Junior Silverbacks were moving the ball patiently and created for one another.

6 of their 9 field goals scored in the second quarter were assisted.

To start the third quarter, Uganda came in full force both offensively and defensively.

They limited Tanzania to just 2 points in the first 5 minutes while scoring 17 including 3 3-point shots.

At this point, Uganda had the game and it was unimaginable seeing them lose it.

Their offense slowed down in the fourth quarter but they still won the game 71-45.

Shammah and Shane Kwizera were very key in Uganda’s run and their ability to read and control the game helped Uganda a lot.

They each had 8 assists in the game against Tanzania.

Shyaka Evans Rugare was very integral with his snipping and he scored 6 3-point shots in that game.

Bwakanda Joshua was a big body for Uganda and he scored with high efficiency, 8/12, 66% FG, 16 points.

He also helped in a lot defensively and had 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 assist.

Finally, Silver Odoi, despite not registering a lot of numbers was very key.

His presence helped anchor the Junior Silverbacks defense and he had the second highest +/-, with 24 in the game.

He also played the most minutes for Uganda with 36:44, matter of fact, he was the only Ugandan player to play 30+ minutes and that shows you how important he was for Uganda.

The team shall be playing in the African Championship later this year in Kigali, Rwanda.

In the previous Championship, Uganda finished 10th after winning just 1 game and losing 4.

This time around, their is a lot of confidence that the boys can perform better and given that the Championship is close to home, there will be a lot of fans rooting for the boys in the stands.