South Sudan remained undefeated at the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers in Dakar, Senagal, while pulling off a major upset against the reigning African Champions Tunisia who’ve been on a close to 5 years winning streak in Africa.
Last September, Tunisia beat down on South Sudan, 80-65, in the 2021 AfroBasket Quarter-Finals on the way to their third African title. Fast forward to Saturday, February 26, and South Sudan shock the African champions Tunisia, 72-64, on Day 2 in Group B of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers in Dakar. On day 1, South Sudan beat East African contemporaries Rwanda, 68-56 while on day 3, the beat Cameroon, 74-68.
Ranked 82 in the FIBA world Rankings, South Sudan are on the up and up with a growing addiction to winning that’s being fueled by their head coach and Former NBA All Star Luol Deng. Naturally, South Sudanese are endowed with great length and athleticism and now boast of young talent that’s being nurtured mainly in American colleges.
Notable players to look out for on South Sudan include; Kuany Kuany, Nuni Omot, Deng Acuoth, Anyiarbany Makoi and Mareng Gatkuoth, and Padiet Wang – all of them young players destined for big things.
“Most of all for us, [South Sudan’s 3-0 record] is just showing that we belong here. Being the youngest country in the world, we’re looked as the underdogs. We just wanted to come here and prove ourselves… As long as we do what we got to do and stay together we can play against anybody.
There’s no words that can really describe the things that we’re able to do because our country has been through a ton.. We don’t have to to be through the history to see the joy that it brings to the people, not to mention our parents, who witnessed first-hand the terrible things [in South Sudan’s past], because of a lot us in this group grew up in the Western side of the world.” – Anyiarbany Makoi – South Sudan guard.
by Cucu Brian | Twitter: @Cucubrian
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