By Neto Baptiste
Coach of the Antigua and Barbuda senior men’s basketball team, George Hughes, believes inexperience will be a factor for his young squad as they get set to compete in the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, from June 19-26 in Nicaragua.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Hughes highlighted the average age of the team, adding that all involved have seen the need to groom the next generation of players.
“The average age is 23 and some of these guys don’t know what the hell they’re getting into. We basically are trying to take small steps and we are trying to reestablish a programme as it would relate to basketball in Antigua. I have a plan I put to the executive and they are on board and I must congratulate them for the ability to say that we need to start revamping,” he said.
Nevertheless, Hughes said the players have been preparing for quite some time and have grown into a competitive unit.
“We have prepared for the past 10 weeks and I think we had a steady progression of improvement from the players. We have very good attendance and I must say that I am proud of the way they have moved from where we started to where we are now, and I just want them to be able to compete and throw it out on the table and see what happens,” he said.
The 14-man squad, inclusive of two alternates, is set to depart for Nicaragua on the weekend and George is hoping they will be able to get a few warm up games ahead of the tournament opener.
“We wanted to get in early and sort of acclimatise and maybe even get in a game or two because it helps to calm them down because they have been playing against each other for the past 10 weeks. So it would be nice for us to play some club teams to see where we are and then we could also make some minor changes before you actually go and compete. It’s going to be tough; it’s going to be three days of basketball back-to-back-to-back,” the coach said.
The Bulldogs will face Nicaragua in their first encounter on 23 June. A day later 24 June, they will face Cuba and on 25 June, the USVI. They will need to win two games to qualify for the next round.