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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 Basketball Club 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. Its official name is South Sudan Basketball Federation. 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 has qualified for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

History

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 a 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 shortly 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.

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]

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

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

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Summer Olympic Games record
Year Round Position GP W L
Brazil 2016 Did not enter
Japan 2020
France 2024 Qualified
Total Best: N/A 0 0 0

FIBA World Cup

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

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
Total Best: Quarter-finals 7th 5 3 2 17 10 7

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.[13][14]

South Sudan men's national basketball team – 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr.
SG 0 Junior Madut 26 – (1997-03-26)26 March 1997 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Tasmania JackJumpers Australia
SF 1 Nuni Omot 28 – (1994-10-03)3 October 1994 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Taichung Suns Chinese Taipei
G 2 Carlik Jones 25 – (1997-12-23)23 December 1997 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Chicago Bulls United States
C 6 Khaman Maluach 16 – (2006-09-14)14 September 2006 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) AS Douanes Senegal
SF 8 Kuany Kuany (C) 29 – (1994-07-08)8 July 1994 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Keilor Thunder Australia
PG 11 Marial Shayok 28 – (1995-07-26)26 July 1995 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Maine Celtics United States
C 12 Deng Acuoth 26 – (1996-10-02)2 October 1996 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Knox Raiders Australia
PF 13 Majok Deng 30 – (1993-03-01)1 March 1993 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Tasmania JackJumpers Australia
SG 14 Peter Jok 29 – (1994-03-30)30 March 1994 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Cholet Basket France
C 21 Koch Bar 26 – (1996-09-15)15 September 1996 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Horsens IC Denmark
PF 32 Wenyen Gabriel 26 – (1997-03-26)26 March 1997 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Los Angeles Lakers United States
G 44 Sunday Dech 29 – (1994-01-01)1 January 1994 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Adelaide 36ers Australia
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 25 August 2023

Head coaches

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

Coach Tenure Tournaments
South Sudan Deng Lek & Bil Duany 2011–2016 –
United States Jerry Steele 2016–2017 –
United States Scott Catt 2017–?[15][16] –
Sudan Ajou Deng 2020[17] –
United Kingdom Luol Deng 2020–2021; 2023[18] –
United States Royal Ivey 2021–present FIBA AfroBasket 2021 (quarter-finals)
2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup (classification round)

References

  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. ^ "D-Day: Fingers crossed as South Sudan takes on Puerto Rico in World Cup". cityreviewss.com. 25 August 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Team roster: South Sudan" (PDF). FIBA. 25 August 2023.
  15. ^ "interview : Scott Catt, the new head coach for the South Sudan National Basketball Team". 21 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  16. ^ "South Sudan Basketball Coaches – TeamSouthSudan". teamsouthsudan.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  17. ^ "South Sudan coach Deng: We want to make things right". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  18. ^ "Luol Deng combines president role with head coaching duties at South Sudan". Eurohoops. 25 November 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
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