Despite being involved in a tough battle for a playoffs’ slot, the head coach of Kepler Basketball Club Mandy Juruni has said that his team is feeling good. With the regular season nearing its end, the fight for the fourth place is going to the wire, with Kepler, Rwanda Energy Group (REG), and Tigers all seeking it in order to ensure participation in the playoffs. On Sunday, August 4, Kepler beat United Generation (UGB) 90-85 and moved into the third place on the league table with 27 points, leapfrogging REG who dropped to fourth place with 26 points. “We feel good about ourselves and the work we have put in. We continue to work to be better. I have told the players to focus on the next game and be better than the previous game,” Juruni told Times Sport on Monday, August 5. Kepler remains with only one game in the regular season and it is against REG, a powerhouse that boasts top players. The game is scheduled to take place on August 13 at Lycee de Kigali Gymnasium. If Kepler finishes among the top four teams in the regular season, it will have achieved a rare feat, since this is only the team’s debut season in the topflight. With automatic qualification for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) up for grabs for the champions of the Rwanda Basketball League (RBL), many teams want to fight to make it to the playoffs in order to challenge for the local league trophy. The regular season concludes on August 23 before the playoffs get underway on August 28. Juruni is an experienced coach who achieved great milestones with Uganda’s City Oilers, a club he last coached before joining Kepler. With Juruni at their helm, the City Oilers clinched eight Uganda National Basketball League (UNBL) championships and secured a coveted BAL qualification. Their participation in the 2023 BAL season's Nile Conference saw them finish in sixth place after a 1–4 record.
