By defeating South Sudan, Team USA has therefore qualified for the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics after winning that match 103-86. This group of Americans showed their depth and versatility, with Bam Adebayo leading them, scoring 18 points and Kevin Durant contributing 14 to their collective cause.
From the start, Team USA dominated by going on an amazing 25-4 run in the first half that would set the tone for the rest of the game. Adebayo, who played a crucial role in team success, further noted, “We’ve been calling ourselves the bench mob for a long time now.
And it doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup. We always seem to figure it out.” This strong spirit within this cohesive squad was seen when U.S. substitutes scored an incredible 66 points.
Anthony Edwards had 13 points while LeBron James scored another twelve which also added value to how well this team did.
In addition, Nuni Omot led South Sudan with 21 points followed by Carlik Jones with 18 and Bul Kuol hit double digits with his sixteen point output showing their fighting spirit despite a tough match-up.
USA Advances, Eyes Improvement
Not only was this win enough to send Team USA through but they also finished as leaders of Group C thus joining Canada, France and Germany in the quarterfinals.
The race for quarterfinal slots is still h-t among seven teams remaining. However, US now turns its attention towards Puerto Rico where they meet next time around; a clash filled with history and one more platform for refining strategies.
Responding whether or not the United States should be happy about their victory, Anthony Davis commented, saying, “It’s not the goal. It does give us a sense of satisfaction as far as being able to play next week. But there’s a lot that we can get better at, a lot that we can clean up, and we’ll use Saturday’s game against Puerto Rico to tighten the screws again and then just see where it takes us from there.” South Sudan however will play Serbia in a must win match that could either make or break their Olympics campaign.
Their coach, Royal Ivey, summed up their journey as being “cinematic,” which was a perfect assessment of how dramatic and unlikely it has been for them to be at the games.
