Kenya men's national basketball team

Kenya national basketball team is the national men basketball team in Kenya. It is operated by the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF).

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Kenya women's national basketball team.

Kenya
FIBA ranking96 2 (1 March 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA1965
FIBA zoneFIBA Africa
National federationKenya Basketball Association
CoachCliff Owuor
Nickname(s)Morans[2]
FIBA World Cup
Appearances0
AfroBasket
Appearances4

Kenya hosted the 1993 FIBA Africa Championship where the team beat Algeria by an 80-50 blowout and progressed to the semi-final on a point differential, its best performance to date.

History

Basketball in Kenya was started in Mang'u High School in the 1960s by the Marianist Brothers when Brother Frank Russell took over as Principal. He had previous experience in the USA as a sports master and basketball coach in several schools.

Kenya beat Africa's 11-time champion Angola 74–73 in the AfroBasket 2021 qualification in Yaoundé, Cameroon, hence booking a place at the African tournament for the first time since 1993.[2]

In 2020, Kenya hired Australian Liz Mills as head coach, the first female coach in the Morans' history.[3] She helped the team qualify for AfroBasket 2021, its first tournament in 18 years. Mills became the first female head coach to coach at an AfroBasket tournament.

In 2022, Kenya hired former national team coach Cliff Owuor for the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.[4] Under Owuor leadership the team went 0-6 in the first round of the qualifiers and failed to progress to the second round.[5] Owuor will continue to lead the team for the 2023 FIBA AfoCan with the team automatically qualifying to the final round due to the team finishing runners up in the 2019 edition.

Kenya also has a u16 boys team and a u18 boys team that are also part of FIBA and the Olympic Committee. Kenyas u18 National Team is led by their team captain from Chicago, Illinois. His name is Iffi Kazmi, a 6’2 Guard that plays for Chi-Prep Sports Academy.

In July 2023 the team will compete in the 2023 AfroCAN tournament. They automatically qualified to the final stage by coming second in the 2019 edition but finished 6th in the final standings. The event was hosted in Angola.[6]

Competitions

FIBA Basketball World Cup
Year Round Position GP W L
1950Not a FIBA member
1954
1959
1963
1967Did not qualify
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2019
// 2023
2027To be determined
Total 0/20909

AfroBasket

  Fourth place  

Year Round Position GP W L
1965Did not qualify
1968
1970
1972
1974
1975
1978
1980
1981
1983
1985Classification round12th606
1987Did not qualify
1989Preliminary round11th404
1992Did not qualify
1993Fourth place4th514
1995Did not qualify
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2021Round of 169th413
2025To be determined
TotalFourth place4th19217

African Games
  • 1987 – 4th

FIBA AfroCan

  Runners-up  

Year Round Position GP W L
2019Runners-up2nd541
20236th place6th523
Total2/22nd523

Team

Current roster

Roster for the AfroBasket Qualifiers 2025.[7]

Kenya men's national basketball team roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
PG 3 Iffi Kazmi 17 – (2006-02-05)5 February 2006 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) Chicago Prep Sports Academy
PG 5 Griffin Ligare 36 – (1985-05-19)19 May 1985 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Nairobi City Thunder
SG 6 Erick Mutoro 29 – (1992-05-29)29 May 1992 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Ulinzi Warriors
G 7 Victor Bosire 32 – (1988-12-31)31 December 1988 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Ulinzi Warriors
PF 8 Fidel Okoth 24 – (1996-10-24)24 October 1996 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Strathmore University
SF 9 Tylor Ongwae 30 – (1991-07-15)15 July 1991 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Bakken Bears
SF 10 Albert Odero 24 – (1997-06-21)21 June 1997 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys
SF 11 Valentine Nyakinda 29 – (1992-03-16)16 March 1992 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Kenya Ports Authority
C 12 Desmond Owili 33 – (1988-02-22)22 February 1988 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Kilsyth Cobras
PF 13 Ronald Gombe 29 – (1992-07-21)21 July 1992 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) CB Villarrobledo
C 14 Tom Wamukota 27 – (1993-09-28)28 September 1993 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Patriots BBC
PF 15 Okall Koranga 31 – (1990-03-18)18 March 1990 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Kampala International University
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Collins Gaya
Legend
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 24 August 2021

Depth chart
Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Tom Wamukota Desmond Owili
PF Fidel Okoth Okall Koranga Ronald Gombe
SF Albert Odero Valentine Nyakinda
SG Tylor Ongwae Erick Mutoro
PG Victor Bosire Griffin Ligare Situma Khaemba

Head coach position
  • Ronnie Owino – 1993, 2001–02, 2007, 2010
  • Francis Ngunjiri – 2013
  • Cliff Owuor – 2020[8]
  • Liz Mills – 2021[9]

Past rosters

Team for the 2015 Afrobasket Qualification:[10]

Kenya men's national basketball team roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClub
Philip Otieno Ameny –
Situma Khaemba –
Ariel Okall Okoll Koranga –
Kevin Kigotho Macharia –
James Maina Mwangi –
Ali Salim Mzee –
Valentine Onyango Nyakinda –
Tobias Onyango Nyindha –
Victor Otieno Odendo –
James Kithinji –
David Amiani –
William Ochieng Otieno –
Allan Christopher Odongo Ouma –
Joseph Ouma –
Blacio Owuor Owili –
Ancetas Samuel Wafula –
Noel Yoni Were Wanambiro –
Griffin Ligare Wisyuba –
Head coach
  • Francis Ngunjiri
Legend
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 19 August 2015

See also

References
  1. "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. Top coach relishes leading Kenya in AfroBasket Championship Maxwell Wasike (Kenya's Watching), 3 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  3. Ayieko, Odindo. "Just who is Liz Mills, Kenya Morans' first-ever female coach?". The Standard. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  4. "Cliff Owuor returns as Kenya Morans head coach".
  5. "Kenya at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers".
  6. "FIBA AfroCAN 2023".
  7. "Team Roster Kenya". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  8. DANN OWERRE (10 September 2020). "Coach Owuor pursues France-based Awich ahead of Afro-basket". The Star. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  9. "Just who is Liz Mills, Kenya Morans' first-ever female coach? : The standard Sports".
  10. "Kenya | 2015 Afrobasket | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM".
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