Rilwan Bakare is a 26 year 201cm forward from Chicago,Illinois playing his third professional season and first with the Fraport Skyliners Juniors after starting the season with Pernion Urheilijat Basket (Finland-1st Division) and then moving to Union de Santa Fe (Argentina-TNA). Last season he played for BK Iskra Svit (Slovakia-SBL) playing 18 games averaging 11.2ppg, 6.8rpg, FGP: 57.8%, FT: 58.5%. As a rookie he played for TuS Breckerfeld (Germany-2.Regionalliga) playing 18 games averaging 19.9ppg, 10.5rpg. He played his college ball at four schools including Columbus State Community College (NJCAA), Danville Area Community College (NJCAA), Campbellsville (NAIA) and Texas Wesleyan (NAIA): He spoke to German Hoops after the game 3 loss to Lok Bernau ending his third professional season.

A tough loss to Lok Bernau ending the season. How much of a basketball culture shock was it coming from the big beautiful Mercedes arena to the tiny Bernau gym for game 3?

 It was a difference I just had to adjust very quick.

The Fraport Skyliners Juniors took only 8 players. Did this already put some pressure on the players knowing that total aggressive defense could have put guys in early foul trouble?

 Just felt a little pressure but we had to just work harder and play as a team.

How key was the quick 9-0 Lok Bernau start for the rest of the game? They jumped on the Fraport Skyliners Juniors right off the bat. Did this fast start already have an effect on the team mentally for the rest of the game?

 I will say yes or no we knew they were going come out strong we just didn’t adjust fast enough to stop the run.

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Rilwan Bakare is a 26 year 201cm forward from Chicago,Illinois playing his third professional season and first with the Fraport Skyliners Juniors after starting the season with Pernion Urheilijat Basket (Finland-1st Division) and then moving to Union de Santa Fe (Argentina-TNA). Last season he played for BK Iskra Svit (Slovakia-SBL) playing 18 games averaging 11.2ppg, 6.8rpg, FGP: 57.8%, FT: 58.5%. As a rookie he played for TuS Breckerfeld (Germany-2.Regionalliga) playing 18 games averaging 19.9ppg, 10.5rpg. He played his college ball at four schools including Columbus State Community College (NJCAA), Danville Area Community College (NJCAA), Campbellsville (NAIA) and Texas Wesleyan (NAIA): He spoke to German Hoops about his season with the Fraport Skyliners Juniors.

Rilwan, thanks for talking to German Hoops! You played at many schools in the states and in many places in the world, but please explain what kind of feeling it was setting foot in the beautiful huge Mercedes and what kind of atmosphere it was?

It was a great feeling I never played in gym like that a lot of lights and the atmosphere was amazing and a different feeling.

The Fraport Skyliners Juniors arrived in Berlin earlier in the day. What was your impression of the city in the few hours that you were there?

Very beautiful I had never been to Berlin so the city was really nice and the skyline buildings were beautiful. I told myself I would love to live here it’s just like America.

The Fraport Skyliners Juniors suffered a tough 75-64 loss in game one against Lok Bernau. Lok Bernau defended very well, but how key were the 22 team turnovers for losing this game?

We started off strong and the second half we tried to force a couple of passes that hurt us. We should of stayed calm and played like we did in the first half. We have to get better so those turnovers won’t happen again.

One never wants to make excuses, but how would the result of the game looked like if Mahir Agva, Niklas Kiel and Stefan Ilzhoefer had been on board who could of drastically changed the dimension of the game?

I believe we would have been stronger because those are great players that add strength to our team, but it wouldn’t have been a difference we still have to play hard and win has a Team.

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