Varsity Basketball makes a debut appearance
Varsity Basketball makes a debut appearance
VUT Basketball team in competition with one of the institutions
by Lehlohonolo Hlalele and Vusi Zwane
Basketball has now been officially added onto the inventory of the acclaimed Varsity Sport Competition. The process was arduous and victory sweet. The inclusion of basketball into Varsity Sport is of great significance to Vaal University of Technology (VUT); it is a known and proven fact that VUT dominates in basketball and this dominance has been prevalent for a decade.
Our basketball men and women are also the 2018 University Sport South Africa (USSA) champions. With team work and good planning, they can go on to win the Varsity tournament. This would be the first time in the institution’s history that a sports team/s win the most prestigious competition in South African university sport. The financial benefits of such a victory would help basketball tremendously and such a victory would spread across other sporting codes, inspiring them to emulate VUT basketball.
During the early stages of the competition, 5 – 7 October 2018, the men’s team showed hunger and determination, so much so that they obliterated their opponents. VUT got rid of University of Pretoria (UP TUKS) by thrashing them 90-37. Next in line to have heavy casualties inflicted upon them was Nelson Mandela University (NMU) who were given a 111-43 mauling. As though they weren’t finished with their rampage, they then went on to beat Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) 60-56 making this their narrowest victory. These were tell signs that it won’t be easy against their final opponents.
VUT suffered a shocking 76-80 defeat to University of Cape Town (UCT) in their final game. ”I think the first and last games were the same for me because we were up all three quarters of the game, however, in the last game we lacked discipline and didn’t execute our offensive strategy, allowing other teams to score easily against us”, said Nkosinathi Fastile (point-guard position player). Their coach gave them an inspirational talk, saying that they should play with their hearts, have fun as well during their games and never to underestimate their opponents.
The team will be back on court again for the competition on 12-14 October 2018. Nkosinathi said that they will be facing off against tough teams over the weekend so they expect to play better offensively and defensively. They also want to take the number 1 spot, the Varsity Championship win.
