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 on November 24th 2013. They are nicknamed the Bright Stars.
South Sudan has already played at two AfroBasket tournaments (2021, 2025), one FIBA World Cup (2023) and one Olympic Games (2024).
History 2011–19 The team played its first unofficial match in Juba against Ugandan club champions Power on 13 July 2011. Power won the match 86–84.
In 2016, the team played in an exhibition tournament named Indigenous Basketball Competition in Vancouver, Canada.
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.
In the 2017 AfroBasket qualifiers, the team was placed in Zone 5 Group A, with Egypt, Kenya, and Rwanda. South Sudan played its first official international game on 12 March 2017, against Egypt in Cairo. They would lose to Egypt by 11 points (87–76) in the first match on 12 March. Two days later the national team got its 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.
2020–present In November 2020, former NBA All-Star Luol Deng became the president of the SSBF. He also briefly coached the team. In September 2021, Royal Ivey, assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets, became the head coach of the team. At AfroBasket 2021, South Sudan made its debut at a major tournament and reached the round of 16 after defeating and in the preliminary round. In the round of 16, South Sudan beat , in the quarterfinals the team lost to defending champions .
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.
On August 28, South Sudan earned its first World Cup victory with a dominant win over China in Quezon City, Philippines. 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 to qualify for their first-ever Olympics.
In exhibition play leading up to the 2024 Paris 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. Marial Shayok scored 25 points for South Sudan."Maccabi adds South Sudan star Marial Shayok," Eurohoops, November 13, 2024,
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. Carlik Jones led the way with 19 points. The Bright Stars lost their two following games to the United States and Serbia, and thus did not advance past the preliminary stage.
Competitive record Olympic Games
record Year Round Position 2016 Did not enter 2020 2024 Preliminary round 9th 3 1 2Total Best: 9th 3 1 2
Record against other teams at the Olympics CountryW–L Puerto Rico 1–0 United States 0–1 Serbia 0–1Total record 1–2Overall historic score 261–278 Last updated: 1 August 2024
FIBA World Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition 2014Did not enter AfroBasket served as qualification 2019Did not enter 2023Classification round17th53212111 2027 To be determinedIn progress 2031To be determinedTotal Classification round 5 3 2 12 11 1
FIBA AfroBasket recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition 2015Did not enterDid not enter 2017 Did not qualify 4 2 2 2021 Quarter-finals 7th 5 3 2 13 8 5 2025 Qualification to quarterfinals10th413 6 4 2Total Quarter-finals 9 4 5 23 14 9
Team Current roster Roster as of the AfroBasket 2025.
Head coaches The following is a list of all head coaches of South Sudan: Coach TenureMajor tournaments Deng Lek & Bil Duany 2011–2016– Jerry Steele 2016–2017– Scott Catt 2017–2020– Ajou Deng 2020– Luol Deng 2020–2021; 2023– Royal Ivey 2021–present2021 AfroBasket2023 World Cup2024 Summer Olympics2025 AfroBasket
References
External links
FIBA profile South Sudanese Men National Team 2017 at Afrobasket.com