Wenyen Gabriel previews South Sudan's crunch Olympic face off against Team USA after win vs Puerto Rico: "They’re coming for our necks"
South Sudan's men's basketball team enjoyed a dream start to their Olympic journey on Sunday. The youngest nation in the world registered an emphatic 90-79 win over Puerto Rico in the group stage of the game. They will encounter their biggest challenge on Wednesday in the form of a rematch against 16-time gold medalist Team USA. In case you missed it, they had an exhibition game on July 20 that ended in a 101-100 victory for the Steve Kerr-led group.
South Sudan's forward Wenyen Gabriel, who has the experience of playing in the NBA, previewed the country's upcoming fixtures in the Olympics. After the win over Puerto Rico, the 27-year-old candidly admitted that teams will take South Sudan with utmost seriousness.
"Absolutely. Every single game, they’re coming for our necks, and we understand that," Gabriel told BasketNews on Sunday.
"We knew that before this game, but we were focused on winning this game. We respected our opponents," he added.
Team USA aware of South Sudan's potential
In the lead up to the Paris Olympics, Team USA and South Sudan faced each other during an exhibition game in London. The American squad narrowly avoided a major sporting upset as they trailed South Sudan for the majority of the game. It was LeBron James' clutch bucket, with eight seconds left on the clock, that sealed Team USA's win by a point.
Even though South Sudan lost, they came out with a ton of confidence. This was seen throughout their game against Puerto Rico, where the South Sudanese players played with energy and belief.
South Sudan coach Royal Ivey echoed Wenyen Gabriel's sentiments while previewing the nation's upcoming games.
"We're no secret anymore," Ivey said after the win against Puerto Rico. "Everybody is going to give us their best shot, just like Puerto Rico came out on fire, and we were resilient. We held it down, we gained our composure, we came back."
Ivey also spoke about one particular area in which his players need to excel in to register an upset win over Team USA.
"The USA got a lot of heavy guns over there," Ivey continued. "So, we got to be focused, locked in, play together, play the right way, and continue to guard. These guys (Puerto Rico) had 40 points in the 2nd quarter, and we hold them to what? 79 points? I don't have the box score, but at the end of the day, we defended in the second half. Like I said, everybody's gonna give us their best shot. We're not the secret anymore."
The game between South Sudan and USA will tip off at 3 p.m. ET on July 31.