Can Monastir stay perfect in four games? DUC have a say

Dakar Universite Club (DUC) had a tremendous morale booster after beating Rwanda Energy Group (REG) on Friday night, now they look to upset the only undefeated in the Sahara Conference so far.

Can they do it? They feel they can make some damage before the end of the Sahara Conference.

The ‘students’ of Dakar beat REG 92-86 in a hard-fought clash to register their first win in three games, but taking on US Monastir, a team that has beaten Ferroviario da Beira, AS Salé and SLAC to stay perfect, presents a massive challenge for Parfait Adjivon’s team.

And although the Tunisian champions are tagged as frontrunner to advance to the playoffs in May in Kigali and DUC are currently in the mix of four teams with a 1-2 mark, they feel that they can come up with an upset on Saturday afternoon.

“Monastir are probably one of the best teams in this conference,” DUC point guard Thierno Niang admitted. “But we don’t care who comes  next. We are just going to try to win the game.”

The Senegal international player went on saying: “We are not going to the game thinking we can’t beat them. We’re coming to game with the same energy and same attitude and try to get another win tomorrow.”

One thing that US Monastir Head Coach Modrag Perisic is aware of is that his team can’t relax and allow DUC to play fast-break and grow in confidence.

In the aftermath of US Monastir vs AS Salé, Perisic admitted that his team lacked focus, an attitude that allowed the Moroccan champions to fight back from a 20-point deficit to take a two-point lead with four minutes left in the game.

“Against the home team we can’t allow this to happen,” the Serbia tactician admitted.

Radhouane Slimane, who has been vital to Monastir insisted that “We showed that we are a team of personality, but if we want to win the Championship we can’t give up these many points.”

DUC have given up 269 points in three games, and have scored 254 points, leaving them with a -15 points differential.

So, beating Monastir becomes a must-win situation for DUC ahead of their last Sahara Conference game against AS Salé.

Monastir, on the other hand, have beaten all their three opponents by an average of 11 points per game.

A thorough look into both teams, and the numbers indicate how impactful some players have been so far putting them into an  elite list of players to watch out for on the penultimate game for DUC and Monastir.

DUC’s Hameed Ali, for instance, has been an all-around piece for the Dakar-based team thanks to his 16 points and 5.7 assists per game.

Joining Ali in the DUC players to watch-list are three-point specialist Bamba Diallo, who has contributed 9 points per game and Adama Diakhite who leads the team in scoring with 16.3 points per game.

DUC’s main threat goes by the name of Ater Majok, a 6’10” center who has averaged three double-double in three games.