Nigeria’s national basketball team, D’Tigers, took a giant step towards qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics on Saturday night in Rades when they defeated Senegal 88-79 in overtime. But they will have their work cut out on Sunday when they confront serial title winners, Angola.

Angola beat hosts Tunisia 58-51 with a sterling defensive display – a performance that D’Tigers have to mirror if they want to stand any chance of beating the Southern Africans.

These two teams have history, having met the last time Nigeria was in the finals – in 2003, when Angola won 86-65 in Alexandria, Egypt, to secure passage to the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Yanick Moreira of Angola told FIBA website that the reason they came to Tunisia was to win and they have a 9-0 record against their Nigerian opponents.

Olaseni Lawal, who has led the Nigerians on the boards, speaking at the post-match conference after the Senegal game, said the team has matured through the tournament and ‘they hope to finish on the right note with the championship’. Lawal recorded 11 rebounds and 17 points against the Senegalese team.

Another D’Tigers player, who got into double digits, Ben Uzor, added that the team needs to play with the same kind of energy and urgency that they displayed against the Senegalese in overtime to get over the maturity and game cleverness of the Angolans.

One player D’Tigers will be looking to for leadership on the court will be Chamberlain Oguchi, who sank eight of 13 three point shooting, and scored 28 points in total.

Oguchi, who was part of D’Tigers team that was beaten by the Angolans in a group game in 2009, believes that the game and win against Senegal has given them the momentum and bond they need to combat whatever the Angolans throw at them at the Rades Olympic Stadium on Sunday.