Going into the weekend, center Gorgui Dieng had led Senegal to a perfect 4-0 record, putting up some pretty staggering numbers.
You can read about those games here.
Dieng had Senegal one game away from advancing to the championship, but unfortunately, Senegal fell to Nigeria on Saturday, the eventual champions of AfroBasket 2015.
Dieng had another solid outing, though, despite Nigeria’s 88-79 win. The big man finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and four assists. He wasn’t all that efficient, shooting 7-of-20 from the field, 2-of-7 from the three-point line and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
He also had this pretty cool block, which could have started a fast-break for Senegal, but instead almost resulted in a Nigeria three-pointer. Luckily for Dieng, it didn’t.
Senegal then played on Sunday for third place. Again, Dieng performed well, but Senegal fell 82-73 to Tunisia, taking fourth place in the tournament.
In the game, Dieng finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist. He was a bit more efficient in this one, shooting 7-of-13 from the field, 1-of-3 from the three-point line and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
In the six-game stretch, Dieng averaged 22.9 points (led tournament), 14.9 rebounds (led tournament), 3.7 assists (7th in tournament), 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. He shot 47.9 percent from the field (54-of-114), 20 percent from deep (5-of-25) and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line (47-of-60).
Dieng ended up being named to the All-Star Five, which also included Chamberlain Oguchi (Nigeria), Al-Farouq (Nigeria), Carlos Morais (Angola) and Makram Ben Romdhane (Tunisia).
Fans have been showing their excitement for what the third-year player can do for the Wolves during the 2015-16 season.
What do Dieng’s number mean in the grand scheme of things? It’s probably too early to tell. But it is certainly a good sign. One thing you might notice is that Dieng attempted 25 three-pointers in the tournament. To put that in perspective, he took just seven in his first two seasons in the NBA.
Last year after practices, Dieng could be found shooting corner three-pointers. He's not going to turn into Dirk Nowitzki or Ryan Anderson at all, but you could tell it was something he was serious about. While his percentage was just at 20 percent in the 2015 AfroBasket, it could be a sign of things to come for a player who will be fighting for minutes this season.