Guinea men's national basketball team

Guinea

FIBA ranking	99 19 (7 December 2021)[1]
Joined FIBA	1962
FIBA zone	FIBA Africa
National federation	Fédération Guinéenne de Basket-Ball (FeGuiBasket)
Coach	Željko Zečević
Nickname(s)	Syli nationale (National Elephants)
AfroBasket
Appearances	6
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The Guinea national basketball team represents Guinea in international basketball competitions. It is administrated by the (FeGuiBasket).^[2]

History[]

Establishment as an African pioneer (1962)[]

Guinea was one of five countries that participated at the African Championship 1962 in Cairo, Egypt. Guinea's fourth place finish there remains its best result at the AfroBasket.^[3]

Three Afrobasket qualifications in 50 years (1964–2015)[]

After the inauguration tournament, Guinea almost completely disappeared from the Afrobasket. The only exception was the time 1980–1985 where the team qualified for the Afrobasket on 3 out of 4 occasions.

Cedric Mansare becomes the leading player (2017–2020)[]

For the AfroBasket 2017 qualification, Cedric Mansare made his debut for the team. The 35-year-old guard has become the go-to player for Guinea ever since. After a surprising Qualifiers campaign, in which they beat former champion and medal contender Senegal, Guinea finished the regional play-off tied with Mali (3–3) in second place, but the Guineans fell short of automatic qualification for the Final Round due to a lower goal-average. Senegal and Mali secured automatic, Cape Verde was eliminated, but Guinea was awarded a wild card – along with Rwanda. The FIBA AfroBasket 2017 marked Guinea's first appearance in the tournament in more than 32 years.^[3]

Unexpected success (2021)[]

At the AfroBasket 2021 qualification, with Guinea needing to beat Equatorial Guinea in the final day of the Qualifiers, Cedric Mansare made four of his eight three-pointers attempts to finish with a team-high 18 points in the 80–71 victory. Throughout the campaign, Mansare averaged 11.5 points per game. Joining Mansare as Guinea central players, were power forward , who contributed 8.2 rebounds in six games, and guard . Ahmed Doumbia only played the last three games of the Qualifiers, but he was immense for Guinea, averaging 13 points and 5.7 assists. With Guinea on the brink of elimination, Doumbia explained why he didn't want to miss such opportunity. "We want to bring our flag to the AfroBasket, putting our country on the basketball map. This is my main motivation."^[3]

Zeljko Zecevic takes over (2021–present)[]

In 2021, the team qualified again. This was accomplished under the Serbian head coach Zeljko Zecevic who replaced Frenchman at the helm ahead of the decisive last window of the Qualifiers in February 2021. As of 2021, Zecevic had coaching experience not only as head coach of Egypt at the AfroBasket 2009 but he had also managed a number of African clubs. Some of his coaching highlights in African included a Second-Place in the 2019 FIBA AfroLeague at the helm of Morocco's AS Sale. Zecevic had further led US Monastir to the Third-Place of the 2017 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup.^[3]

At the AfroBasket 2021 in Kigali, Guinea was drawn in Group B alongside Central African Republic, Egypt and Tunisia, which are three former AfroBasket champions. Guinea entered as the lowest-ranked of the 16-team AfroBasket 2021 line-up.^[3] Yet, they finished 8th out of 16, Guinea's best placement in almost 60 years.

Performance at FIBA Africa Championship[]

  Fourth place  

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L
1962	Main stage	4th	4	1	3
1964	Did not qualify
1965
1968
1970
1972
1974
1975
1978
1980	Classification stage	10th	5	0	5
1981	Did not qualify
1983	Classification stage	10th	5	0	5
1985	Classification stage	11th	6	1	5
1987	Did not qualify
1989
1992
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017	Preliminary round	16th	3	0	3
2021	Round of 16	8th	5	2	3
Total			28	4	24

Team[]

Current roster[]

Roster for the AfroBasket 2021.^[4]

Guinea men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PF 0 18 – (2003-08-03)3 August 2003 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) SF 1 27 – (1993-09-02)2 September 1993 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Thames Valley Cavaliers PG 2 21 – (2000-04-27)27 April 2000 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Florida Preparatory Academy PG 5 19 – (2002-01-30)30 January 2002 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) Boulazac Basket Dordogne SG 7 26 – (1995-04-14)14 April 1995 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) CEP Lorient F 10 Cedric Mansare 35 – (1985-10-18)18 October 1985 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Dax-Gamarde SF 11 Shannon Evans 26 – (1994-11-19)19 November 1994 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) SF 13 24 – (1996-11-30)30 November 1996 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) VfL Kirchheim Knights C 14 29 – (1992-06-10)10 June 1992 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) FC Mulhouse Basket SG 21 23 – (1997-10-07)7 October 1997 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) UNB Reds PF 23 29 – (1992-06-20)20 June 1992 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) PG 24 Ibrahim Fofana 23 – (1998-06-24)24 June 1998 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) SLAC PF 35 26 – (1995-05-01)1 May 1995 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Saint-Chamond Basket	Head coach Zeljko Zecevic Assistant coach(es) Malick Kone Legend Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 24 August 2021

Past rosters[]

Roster for the AfroBasket 2017.^[5]

Guinea men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 4 25 – (1991-12-12)12 December 1991 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball SG 5 22 – (1995-04-14)14 April 1995 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) SG 6 21 – (1995-12-05)5 December 1995 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) F 7 29 – (1987-09-17)17 September 1987 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) PG 8 28 – (1989-05-28)28 May 1989 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) PF 9 25 – (1992-07-12)12 July 1992 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) SG 10 Cedric Mansare 31 – (1985-10-18)18 October 1985 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) F 11 25 – (1992-05-07)7 May 1992 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) PF 12 25 – (1992-06-20)20 June 1992 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) CB Morón C 13 Alfa Ntiallo 24 – (1992-10-13)13 October 1992 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Union Kavala B.C. PF 14 25 – (1992-06-10)10 June 1992 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) PF 15 24 – (1993-05-03)3 May 1993 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	Head coach Assistant coaches Legend Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 6 September 2017

At the 2015 Afrobasket qualification:^[6]

Guinea men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. 22 – (1993-06-08)8 June 1993 22 – (1993-05-24)24 May 1993 19 – (1995-12-05)5 December 1995 25 – (1990-01-09)9 January 1990 22 – (1993-05-03)3 May 1993 17 – (1997-12-21)21 December 1997 20 – (1995-02-28)28 February 1995 27 – (1988-03-10)10 March 1988 32 – (1982-12-02)2 December 1982 18 – (1997-06-15)15 June 1997 22 – (1993-03-31)31 March 1993 19 – (1995-10-16)16 October 1995 20 – (1995-04-14)14 April 1995 22 – (1993-04-03)3 April 1993 26 – (1989-05-28)28 May 1989 29 – (1985-12-02)2 December 1985 19 – (1995-12-01)1 December 1995 27 – (1987-09-17)17 September 1987	Head coach Assistant coaches Legend Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 19 August 2015

Under-18 team[]

At the 2020 FIBA Africa Under-18 Championship in Cairo, Egypt, the Guineans finished fourth. The team was coached by Zeljko Zecevic who later became head coach of Guinea's senior team.^[3]

Kit[]

2015 – Adidas

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• FIBA profile
• Guinea Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
• Africabasket – Guinea Men National Team