Remember the 1996 classic movie Space Jam? Yes, the one where Michael Jordan entered an animated world and teamed up with Looney Tunes to compete in an epic hoops match against the Monstars. That’s exactly how South Sudan’s head coach, Royal Ivey, felt playing against Team USA’s Dream Team 2.0 in Paris. Unfortunately, he didn’t have MJ to bail them out. Although the dark horses faced a 103-86 loss, Ivey took immense pride in his team’s effort and predicted a bright future for them.

Unlike the last time when both teams met in London and the winner was decided by just a point, Team USA made light work of South Sudan in their latest encounter. However, there were some positive takeaways for the losing team, as Ivey remarked, “I mean, we kept Steph Curry to three points. Jayson Tatum to four points. Those are the best players in the NBA. But it still wasn’t enough.”

“Usually, when you do that in games, you win games. And you got the Monstars over there!” Ivey concluded. Making two major changes in the starting lineup by replacing Joel Embiid and Jrue Holiday with Jayson Tatum and Anthony Davis, Steve Kerr came prepared to keep up with the pace and intensity of South Sudan. Despite the preparation, Ivey’s squad was so locked in on the defensive end that the world’s greatest shooter, Steph, missed all six of his three-point attempts and went 1 of 9 from the field.

Similarly, Jayson Tatum also struggled on offense as he was already rusty from not playing against Serbia and South Sudan’s defense limited him to just 4 points on two of four shooting. As expected, Team USA has so many elite players on their roster that shutting down a few doesn’t assure victory.

As an unexpected hero, Bam Adebayo led the charge with his 18-point performance and Royal Ivey’s squad eventually had no response to their stacked opponents’ attack. But he still left the court with his head held high. “We got knocked down, and we kept getting up, fighting, and being resilient. We didn’t come out with the outcome we wanted, but I’m proud of my guys.”

Moreover, Royal Ivey did not blame the loss on his players, “It’s no letdown and no fear, and they went out there and did everything. I asked them to do it, we just fell short tonight.” Interestingly, Nuni Omot, who played the second-lowest minutes on the starting roster, was the top scorer for the dark horses recording a 24-point haul and a nifty 8 of 12 from the field.

It is “bigger than basketball” for South Sudan

Going toe-to-toe against Team USA, South Sudan definitely proved one thing. That they have the heart. During the Dream Team days, the Americans blew out all of their opponents in the Barcelona Olympics by an average 44-point margin! However, South Sudan proved that the days of such dominance were over for Team USA, as the youngest nation lost by a much smaller margin.

While he cannot change the outcome of the previous match, Ivey promises to learn from it, “You move on, you flush this, and we have another game to prepare for. And I gotta be better as a leader, and I will be. I gotta get my guys ready for this next game.”

While most competing nations in the Olympics are fighting for glory in their sport, for South Sudan, the stakes are much bigger. “It’s bigger than basketball. We’re doing this to unite the people of South Sudan and bring unity and love.” Ivey claimed.

It’s their way of building a new identity for their nation, which gained independence only 13 years ago. “Kudos to those guys for what they’ve been doing in the last 3 to 4 years, bringing a war-torn country together. And the narrative has been a bad narrative. We’re changing the narrative through sports, and that’s a great feeling,” a proud Royal Ivey concluded.

With that hope, South Sudan prepares for their next encounter against Serbia, which will determine their future in the Paris Olympics.

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.