South Sudan was just one basket away from upsetting Team USA in an exhibition game earlier this month.
Eleven days later, with much higher stakes, Team USA vows it will be better prepared in Wednesday's rematch at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We have appropriate fear of everybody,” Steph Curry said ahead of Wednesday's game (h/t The Athletic's Joe Vardon).
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In an exhibition game between Team USA and South Sudan on July 20 in London, South Sudan led the game by as many as 16 points and came within one shot of beating the superstar-studded Americans. But a LeBron James takeover helped Team USA escape the upset with a narrow 101-100 win.
For Wednesday's pivotal rematch, Team USA is favored to win by about 30 points. But following their previous matchup, it knows it can't take any opponent lightly with winning the gold medal on their minds.
“The exhibition schedule was great because you got to figure out where we need to get better and also feel the force of teams that are coming trying to beat us no matter if it’s a friendly or an Olympic game,” Curry said. "I think more so it just challenges you to immensely prepare for a team that might not know a lot about ahead of time from a scouting-report standpoint to then make the necessary adjustments that we’re going to make to have a better showing against them.
"[South Sudan has] a very high octane offense, [its players] spread the floor and shoot a lot of 3s and have athleticism. So you just got to be mindful of how to guard them.”
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South Sudan guard Carlik Jones, who has played 12 NBA games over three seasons, produced a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against Team USA. Meanwhile, Wenyen Gabriel, a former teammate of James on the Los Angeles Lakers, contributed 11 points and six rebounds, and JT Thor, who has played with the Charlotte Hornets but is not currently on an NBA team, scored 14 points.
Team USA coach Steve Kerr assured that Team USA would be “much better prepared” on Wednesday, but added: “That doesn’t guarantee you anything.”
South Sudan is coming off a 90-79 victory over Puerto Rico where a strong second half secured a win in the country's first-ever Olympic game Sunday. Jones continued his strong play with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The U.S. also won its opener on Sunday – 110-84 over Nikola Jokić and Team Serbia.
“Just take care of the ball,” U.S. guard Jrue Holiday said when asked what the team needs to do differently against South Sudan on Wednesday. “They pressure the ball full court, and we also have that ability. But to be able to take care of the ball, execute the plays the way we want, we’ll be all right.”
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