South Sudan Basketball Federation President Luol Deng couldn’t hide his discontent with the officiating during their Olympic group phase game against Serbia on Saturday. Their team lost by 11 points, ending their hopes of standing on the Olympic podium.
The African squad was ahead of the Serbians in both field goals (33-32) and three-pointers (14-11), but had a significantly low number of free throw attempts. South Sudan scored only five points out of six attempts, while Serbia scored 21 out of 31.
Luol Deng blamed the disparity on the lack of African officials. “I don’t know why there’s no African referees in the Olympics,” he ranted.
“If these referees aren’t familiar with our game or our style, then I don’t know what the World Championship or Olympics is. Is it just a European basketball style and we’re not allowed to be aggressive?” Deng continued.
There wouldn’t seem to be a reason for Deng’s rant if South Sudan didn’t also experience a similar free-throw discrepancy in their July 31 game against Team USA. South Sudan went 11-for-12 in the free-throw line, while Team USA was 16-for-20. The Africans also lost that game, 103-86.
The only free throw parity South Sudan seemed to have was against Puerto Rico on July 28. South Sudan made 14 free throws out of 15 attempts; Puerto Rico also made 14 but had nine more attempts than Deng’s squad.
Luol Deng, the driving force behind South Sudan basketball
South Sudan’s entry to the Olympics as Africa’s highest-ranked team in the World Cup wouldn’t have been possible if not for the efforts of Luol Deng.
The two-time NBA star played one season at Duke before being drafted seventh overall by the Phoenix Suns and immediately traded to Chicago in 2004. He retired from the NBA in 2019 and became the president of South Sudan’s national basketball team that same year.
However, Deng’s involvement in developing basketball in his homeland started as early as 2011, when the country gained independence. He committed to fostering unity and national pride in his country through the sport.
Deng served as the head coach of the South Sudan national team before becoming its president. He still serves as an assistant coach. He has been a key figure in helping get the nation’s basketball program recognized internationally.
Deng talked about how he built the team in an interview with CNN Sports.
“I’ve known a lot of these players since they were so young, and I’ve kept up with a lot of other players that I didn’t know, but they were on my radar,” Deng shared. “And before I took over as president of the federation, I did imagine, ‘What if those guys committed to play for our nation?’ And this is the result because it’s all come together.”
South Sudan failed to secure an Olympic medal this year, but they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to participate in the first place if it weren’t for Luol Deng’s leadership and personal financial support. Deng pushed through to have his young nation qualify for the Olympics—a historic achievement in itself.
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