LAGOS, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's basketball head coach, Alex Nwora has arrived in San Domingo with 15 players for the two-legged test match with fellow World Cup bound Dominican Republic on Saturday and Monday.
Nwora said in a statement reaching Xinhua in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub on Friday that the test games will afford him the opportunity to rate the players at his disposal in a game situation as well as try out new tactics.
"The last few days have been very interesting in camp. The players have been showing a high level of discipline and willingness to learn new things. The friendly games will afford the technical crew the opportunity of evaluating the players," the coach said.
Some players are expected to be dropped after the test games while others on the 44-man list earlier released by Nwora will join the team for the next phase of training.
"This won't be an easy decision but we just have to do it. If I had my way, I would have loved to take all the 44 players to the World Cup, but sadly this is not possible," he added.
The two-legged friendly is part of the programs lined up by the Nigeria Basketball Federation to get the team ready for the World Cup.
The final 12-man list will depart for Nigeria on Aug. 12, for the final round of training before leaving for China on August 18.
Nigeria battle South Korea, Argentina and Russia in Group B.
