The University of Johannesburg 3×3 men’s basketball team will be one of four African sides to compete in the World University League finals in Xiamen, China, later in October.
This comes after the men’s team won the Federation of Africa University Sports (Fasu) competition in July, defeating the Ugandan Makerere University team in the final. UJ basketball manager Anton van Rooyen said this was after the team played in their first-ever 3×3 tournament at Makerere University in Uganda last December.
Now the team of Mpumelelo Mahlati, Skumbuzo Mthembu, Nqosa Lehloenya and Wade Hassett have emerged as the African varsity champions to qualify for the World University League from 21 to 23 October, where they will play under coach, Mandla Ngema.
Van Rooyen said this basketball format is played on a half-court, with three players in each team targeting one hoop. There is one substitute in each side. A game is played over a single period of 10 minutes with sudden death at 21 points.
The winner is the first team to score 21, or the team with the highest score when time runs out.
Having only initiated the game at UJ last year, Van Rooyen said they were delighted to have qualified for the World University League finals. “The players are excited and a bit nervous for what lies ahead as this is new ground for all of us,” he said.
“The defending champions are McGill University from Canada and we know that the American universities will be strong. We are aiming to give it our best shot and to be competitive.” Van Rooyen added that while this version of basketball was relatively new, the university plans to have an internal league in the near future.
He pointed out that Tshwane University of Technology were the only other local university team that competed in the Fasu competition this year, and said he hoped others would follow suit next year.
Van Rooyen said 3×3 was played at a high pace with competitors having to ‘think on their feet and make quick decisions’. “You need to have the guts to drive forward, and good shooting skills,” he said, adding that the team had done a lot of ‘gym work with a fitness trainer and have been practising with the university’s alumni, who are even better than the students’.
