Sahmi Willoughby (192-F/G-2001, college: Marietta) is a 25 year old 192cm guard from Ohio that is playing his second pro season and first in Germany with Pro B team Dragons Rhondorf. He played his rookie season with Lahti Basketball (Finland-Korisliiga) averaging 8.7ppg, 6.5rpg, 1.3apg, FGP: 59.4%, 3PT: 22.2%, FT: 80.0%, played also at Team Pajulahti (Finland-1st Division) averaging 22.4ppg, 14.0rpg, 1.5apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 47.9%, 3PT: 36.7%, FT: 72.7%. He began his basketball career at Reynoldsburg high school and then played at Marietta College (NCAA 3) from 2019-2024 playing a total of 113 games and as a senior averaged 12.6ppg, 10.0rpg, 1.3apg, FGP: 52.4%, 3PT: 38.6%, FT: 64.9%. He got early basketball experience playing with the Great Falls Electric (TBL) averaging 9.8ppg, 9.0rpg, 1.2apg, FGP: 47.5%, 3PT: 33.3%, FT: 60.0%. He teams up with germanhoops.com every week to talk about basketball.

The Dragons Rhondorf suffered a tough 93-78 loss against the Bayer Giants Leverkusen. How tough was this loss to digest? The Dragons played well for 30 minutes, but a game has 40 minutes.

That was a tough loss against Leverkusen. We know we had a chance but we have to find a way to string together a full 40 minutes of basketball

The Dragons Rhondorf came out cold in the third quarter allowing a 19-3 run. How can one explain a start like that into the second half? Keeping the three point line in check was a problem.

In the third quarter, we had some costly turnovers that changed the game. That effect lead to the defensive of end and they were capitalizing off our mistakes.

In the fourth quarter the Dragons Rhondorf couldn´t get over the hump and Branden Maughmer poured it on hitting many shots. Did the Dragons run out of gas?

I wouldn’t say we ran out of gas but when you see those tough shots go in after playing 15-20 seconds of defense it kind of effects you mentally

Could the Dragons get anything positive out of the loss to build on for the next game? The overall shooting percentages were ok.

The positive thing we can get out of this game is that we can compete with top teams when we play good basketball but we have to play good basketball all the time and not just sometimes

You had 5 points and 3 rebounds in 28 minutes and took 4 shots. Was the few shots on them for denying you the ball well or were you not aggressive enough?

I will give props to leverkusen, they were heavily denying me and was hard for me to get the ball, I could have been more aggressive but they made it tough for the guards to even get the ball to me

The next opponent doesn´t get any easier with 6-0 Ravens Reutlingen. What will be key to starting a new winning streak?

I will say nothing is impossible in the basketball world. We just have to keep our head forward, block the noise and lock in this week. Be extremely focused and dialed in practices, film sessions and walk throughs. Our key thing to winning this game is being fully focused on the defensive end, which will lead to offense. Everything will come together

Have you been surprised how popular Halloween is in Germany?

I’m not that surprised, I feel like Halloween is popular all over the world

Thanks Sahmi for the chat.