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South Sudan men's national basketball team

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Not to be confused with South Sudan Basketball Federation.

South Sudan
FIBA ranking23 Increase 11 (15 August 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA2013
FIBA zoneFIBA Africa
National federationSouth Sudan Basketball Federation (SSBF)
CoachRoyal Ivey
Nickname(s)Bright Stars
Olympic Games
Appearances1
FIBA World Cup
Appearances1
Afrobasket
Appearances1
First international
Unofficial
Power 86–84 South Sudan 
(Juba, South Sudan; 13 July 2011)
Official
 Egypt 87–76 South Sudan 
(Cairo, Egypt; 12 March 2017)
Biggest win
 Tanzania 60–115 South Sudan 
(Nairobi, Kenya; 17 January 2020)
Biggest defeat
 South Sudan 83–115 Serbia 
(Quezon City, Philippines; 30 August 2023)

The South Sudan men's national basketball team is the national basketball team representing South Sudan. It was established in May 2011, and became a member of FIBA in December 2013.[2] They are nicknamed the Bright Stars.

The most recently founded national basketball team in FIBA, South Sudan has already played at one AfroBasket tournament in 2021 and the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

History

[edit]

The team played its first unofficial match in Juba against Ugandan club champions Power on 13 July 2011. Power won the match 86–84.[3]

In 2016, the team played in an exhibition tournament named Indigenous Basketball Competition in Vancouver, Canada.[4]

On 9 January 2016, it was announced by the South Sudan Basketball Federation that Jerry Steele would become the new head coach of the men's national team for preparation of the 2017 AfroBasket competition. Through the agreement Steele would be under contract until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[5]

In the 2017 AfroBasket qualifiers, the team was placed in Zone 5 Group A, with Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda. South Sudan played its first official international game on 12 March 2017, against Egypt in Cairo.[6] They would lose to Egypt by 11 points (87–76) in the first match on 12 March. Two days later the national team got it first victory in group stage against Kenya by 2 (68–66). The next day, the team relieved its next loss by ten (80–90) to Rwanda, later placing them in the Classification game. On 12 March, the team would beat Kenya in the Classification game in OT (84–89).

Coach Steele and the South Sudan Basketball Federation parted ways by mutual agreement on 3 October 2017.

On 7 November 2017, Scott Catt was appointed to be the new head coach of the men's national team by the South Sudan Basketball Federation. Madut Bol, son of the late Manute Bol, was also named as assistant head coach of the men's national team.[7]

In November 2020, former NBA All-Star Luol Deng became the president of the SSBF.[8] He also briefly coached the team. In September 2021, Royal Ivey, assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets, became the head coach of the team.[9] At AfroBasket 2021, South Sudan made its debut at a major tournament and reached the round of 16 after defeating Uganda and Cameroon in the preliminary round. In the round of 16, South Sudan beat Kenya, in the quarterfinals the team lost to defending champions Tunisia.

South Sudan (black) vs China (white) at the 2023 World Cup.

In the following 2023 FIBA World Cup qualification games, the Bright Stars impressed and had an unbeaten record in the first round (6–0), beating the defending African champions Tunisia twice and qualifying for their first World Cup in the third round with two games left. In the second round, again coached by Royal Ivey, they had another successful streak in order to qualify for South Sudan's first-ever World Cup in 2023.[10]

On August 28, South Sudan earned its first World Cup victory with a dominant win over China in Quezon City, Philippines.[11] South Sudan qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris by finishing as the best African team in the World Cup, beating Angola in their final game. This will be their first-ever Olympics.[12]

In exhibition play leading up to the 2024 Olympics, South Sudan played the United States and lost by just one point, 100–101, to a team led by four former NBA MVP winners, including LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.[13] On the opening day of the Olympics, South Sudan stunned Puerto Rico for their first Olympic victory in the first game of group play, winning 90–79.[14] Carlik Jones led the way with 19 points.[15] The Bright Stars lost their two following games to the United States[16] and Serbia, and thus did not advance past the preliminary stage.[17]

Competitive record

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Olympic Games

[edit]
Summer Olympic Games record
Year Round Position GP W L
Brazil 2016 Did not enter
Japan 2020
France 2024 Preliminary round 9th 3 1 2
Total Best: 9th 3 1 2

Record against other teams at the Olympics

[edit]
Country W–L
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 1–0
United States United States 0-1
Serbia Serbia 0-1
Total record 1-2
Overall historic score 261-278

Last updated: 1 August 2024

FIBA World Cup

[edit]
FIBA Basketball World Cup record Qualification record
Year Round Position GP W L GP W L
Spain 2014 Did not enter AfroBasket served as qualification
China 2019 Did not enter
Philippines Japan Indonesia 2023 Classification round 17th 5 3 2 12 11 1
Qatar 2027 To be determined To be determined
Total Classification round 17th 5 3 2 12 11 1

FIBA AfroBasket

[edit]
AfroBasket record Qualification record
Year Round Position GP W L GP W L
Tunisia 2015 Did not enter Did not enter
Tunisia Senegal 2017 Did not qualify 4 2 2
Rwanda 2021 Quarter-finals 7th 5 3 2 13 8 5
Angola 2025 To be determined To be determined
Total Quarter-finals 7th 5 3 2 17 10 7

Team

[edit]

Current roster

[edit]

Roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

A 50-player roster was announced on 30 April 2024.[18] It was cut to 25 players on 3 June 2024.[19] The roster was announced on 24 July 2024.[20][21]

South Sudan men's national basketball team – 2024 Olympics roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr.
PG 4 Carlik Jones 26 – (1997-12-23)23 December 1997 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Partizan Serbia
F 5 Nuni Omot 29 – (1994-10-03)3 October 1994 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Ningbo Rockets China
C 6 Khaman Maluach 17 – (2006-09-14)14 September 2006 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) Duke Blue Devils United States
SF 7 Bul Kuol 27 – (1997-01-10)10 January 1997 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Sydney Kings Australia
SF 8 Kuany Kuany (C) 30 – (1994-07-08)8 July 1994 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Free agent
F/C 9 Wenyen Gabriel 27 – (1997-03-26)26 March 1997 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Maccabi Tel Aviv Israel
PF 10 JT Thor 21 – (2002-08-26)26 August 2002 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Charlotte Hornets United States
SG 11 Marial Shayok 29 – (1995-07-26)26 July 1995 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Shandong Hi-Speed Kirin China
PG 12 Jackson Makoi 24 – (2000-07-03)3 July 2000 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Cairns Taipans Australia
PF 13 Majok Deng 31 – (1993-03-01)1 March 1993 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Tasmania JackJumpers Australia
SG 14 Peter Jok 30 – (1994-03-30)30 March 1994 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Ottawa BlackJacks Canada
G 15 Sunday Dech 30 – (1994-01-01)1 January 1994 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) East Perth Eagles Australia
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 27 July 2024

Head coaches

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The following is a list of all head coaches of South Sudan:

Coach Tenure Major tournaments
South Sudan Deng Lek & Bil Duany 2011–2016 –
United States Jerry Steele 2016–2017 –
United States Scott Catt 2017–?[23][24] –
South Sudan Ajou Deng 2020[25] –
United Kingdom Luol Deng 2020–2021; 2023[26] –
United States Royal Ivey 2021–present 2021 AfroBasket
2023 World Cup

2024 Olympics

References

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  1. ^ "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  2. ^ Basketball: South Sudan is FIBA's 54th African member – News – StarAfrica.com Archived 28 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Power the history boys". New Vision Online. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  4. ^ "South Sudan looking to promote the country through basketball". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Steele put in charge of South Sudan's men's national team – FIBA.basketball".
  6. ^ "Egypt off to flying start with win over South Sudan in FIBA AfroBasket 2017 Group F Qualifier opener". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  7. ^ "South Sudan Basketball Coaches – TeamSouthSudan". teamsouthsudan.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  8. ^ "NBA star Deng elected President of South Sudan Basketball Federation". insidethegames.biz. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  9. ^ "South Sudan Coach Royal Ivey: "The Talent Runs Deep in Africa"". Boardroom. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  10. ^ "History made as South Sudan outlast Senegal to qualify for the 2023 World Cup". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  11. ^ Ninrew, Chany (28 August 2023). "South Sudan sink China in FIBA World Cup but rough road ahead". Eye Radio. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  12. ^ "'So surreal': South Sudan beat Angola to qualify for Paris 2024". Reuters. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  13. ^ Joseph, Samuel (21 July 2024). "Team USA survives scare in Olympic warmup, scraping past South Sudan 101-100". CNN. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Unforgettable first: South Sudan overcomes Puerto Rico with team effort". www.fiba.basketball. 28 July 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  15. ^ "South Sudan stuns Puerto Rico for first-ever Olympic hoops win". ESPN. 28 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Adebayo-led bench helps U.S. topple South Sudan". ESPN.com. 31 July 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Bogdanovic, Jokic hold off South Sudan, pull Greece to QFs". www.fiba.basketball. 3 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  18. ^ "50 names, huge potential for South Sudan Olympic team". fiba.basketball. May 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  19. ^ @SSBFed (3 June 2024). "SSBF social update" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 June 2024 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "South Sudan announces final roster for Paris Olympics". BasketballNews.com. 24 July 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  21. ^ South Sudan Basketball [@SSBFed] (24 July 2024). "Olympics Roster" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  22. ^ "Team roster: South Sudan" (PDF). fiba.basketball. p. 10. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  23. ^ "interview : Scott Catt, the new head coach for the South Sudan National Basketball Team". 21 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  24. ^ "South Sudan Basketball Coaches – TeamSouthSudan". teamsouthsudan.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  25. ^ "South Sudan coach Deng: We want to make things right". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Luol Deng combines president role with head coaching duties at South Sudan". Eurohoops. 25 November 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
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