Team USA coach Steve Kerr says his players are well aware of how good South Sudan will be when they meet at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The two teams will meet on Wednesday and LeBron James and Co come in off the back of an impressive and dominating win against Serbia, a team said to be capable of challenging them for gold.
Should they beat Sudan – who are playing in their first Olympics – they will earn a spot in the quarter-finals.
They beat Puerto Rico in their opener on Sunday and only lost by one point in an exhibition match against the USA just a few weeks ago.
Stephen Curry was in top form against Serbia and has adopted the classic US line of “appropriate fear” for the upcoming match.
He said: “We have appropriate fear. We know we can’t just sleepwalk through any game and feel like you’re going to win.
Men’s Group C Standings:
1. 🇺🇸 #USABMNT (1-0, 26 pts)
2. 🇸🇸 South Sudan (1-0, 11 pts)
3. 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico (0-1, -11 pts)
4. 🇷🇸 Serbia (0-1, -26 pts)#Paris2024 #Basketball pic.twitter.com/eBtkxSjf9g— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 30, 2024
“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.
“They’re a very high-octane offense, spread the floor, shoot a lot of 3s and have athleticism. So you just got to be mindful of how to guard them. It’s totally different than Serbia.”
Team USA are heavy favourites, but it took a clutch basket from James with eight seconds to go to secure a 101-100 victory when they met in London.
Kerr added: “They came within one shot of beating us.
“I’m really glad that we played them so we can feel their speed and their 3-point shooting ability and feel how good they are.”
Sudan are stacked with NBA-level players and will be ready to pounce if Team USA are not on their game.
