An impressive South Sudan side who nearly beat Team USA in a warm-up game 11 days ago were again challenging today, but fell short thanks to a hard-fought team effort from the US. 

Bam Adebayo was the standout player for the United States, as he racked up 18 points and seven boards. Six Americans had over ten points in the game, including Kevin Durant (14), Anthony Edwards (13) and LeBron James (12). It was South Sudan who had the top scorer of the game however, being 29-year-old forward Nuni Omot who had 24 points throughout the four quarters.  

Story of the game

A 6-0 USA lead within the first 90 seconds thanks to two fast breaks from LeBron James and an Anthony Davis shot inside the paint would quickly evaporate as a motivated South Sudan side came back with seven unanswered points of their own. LeBron would continue to show age is just a number, as a third fast break and a close-range shot would give him eight points in the first quarter and the USA a 10-10 tie with four minutes to go. New blood would come in such as Jrue Holiday and Anthony Edwards as Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant would get  6 points, all from free throws, to help the USA close out the quarter 26-14.

Four points from Adebayo and a made 3-pointer from Kevin Durant would put Team USA up by 19 points to put the game at 33-14, but the emergence of Nuni Omot would help South Sudan massively throughout the ten minutes. Omot would finish with ten points in the quarter. Two daggers and three dunks from Adebayo would see him top scorer in the quarter with 12, not missing a shot (5/5) despite the workload. Tyrese Haliburton was one of two players along with Jayson Tatum that did not see the court against Serbia three days ago, but would help the cause by scoring six points of his own in the period, all from outside the D.

An impressive third quarter from South Sudan would see them win the quarter 21-18 in a low scoring affair, as a combination of players scored baskets for the underdogs including threes from ex-Hornets player JT Thor and Australia-based Bul Kuol. Jayson Tatum’s first points of the tournament would come from a Steph Curry-assisted dunk but the USA, without LeBron, Davis or KD touching the court, would struggle to see offense really get going in the penultimate period.

The fourth and final quarter would see, again, a heavily rotated lineup from Team USA. Six points from Devin Booker in the paint and bit-part contributions from Durant and Curry would help the team see off South Sudan by only a point in the quarter (30-29), but it would be a much more comfortable result overall after a strong initial half from the Americans, and the game would finish 103-86 to the US. South Sudan were heavily nullified inside the arc and in as a tandem of Adebayo-Davis picked up 4 blocks – restricting the Sudanese to a mere 44% from two-pointers. 

VAVEL’s Player Of The Game:

Nuni Omot. It’s not too often that a player on the losing side is considered the standout performer in a game, but the European journeyman really left an impact on the court. 8 for 12 on the field and 83% success off of six shots from the free throw line capped off a great performance. Bam Adebayo was key for the winners, but it was a team effort from the USA that saw them victorious today. 

What’s next?

The USA will play Puerto Rico in what should be a relatively easy game against opponents who see theirselves bottom of the group having lost both of their games so far.

South Sudan will play Serbia in a huge game – the winner of the game will receive an automatic bye into the knockouts.

Both matches will be available to watch on NBC Sports/Peacock.