CONTINUOUS GROWTH FOR GB AHEAD OF SOUTH SUDAN CLASH

Great Britain men’s head coach Marc Steutel wants the national side to continue growing as a team when it faces South Sudan at the CopperBox Arena on Thursday as part of the Subway® Summer Slam series.

The clash also marks a chance to bounce back in front of friends, family, team-mates, and supporters, following a recent trip to Portugal where GB narrowly lost two competitive warm-up games to Argentina and the hosts themselves over the weekend.

Despite the losses, the team showed great resilience and promising signs of improvement, which coach Steutel is hopeful will carry over to the upcoming visit of South Sudan.

“The game against South Sudan is a great way to finish our summer camp,” said Steutel.

“We hope to put together the best performance of the camp at home in the capital in front of our fans.

“Whenever you are representing your country, there is, of course, a responsibility to compete to win, but in line with our aims and objectives for this summer, we want to continue to build, develop, and work with our players outside of the FIBA competition windows.

“We have brought together an exciting group of youth and experience and want to expose everyone in our group to high-level environments while playing the ‘GB way’.”  

Great Britain’s opponents, South Sudan, have enjoyed an extraordinary rise in the FIBA World Rankings since becoming a member in December 2013.

Ranked 33 in the world, South Sudan qualified for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris for the first time in its history, thanks to finishing as the highest-ranked African side at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2023.

Coached by current Houston Rockets assistant Royal Ivey, the Bright Stars feature players with NBA experience, such as Carlik Jones, Bol Bol, Marial Shayok, and Thon Maker, amongst others.

“They have done exceptionally well to rise through international basketball at an exponential rate,” said Steutel.

“They have our complete respect and admiration and after we compete against them on Thursday, we will be wishing them all the best for their Olympic journey.”

The team is led by South Sudan Basketball Federation president Luol Deng, a former Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers star who played for the Great Britain side from 2007 to 2012, highlighted by playing at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

“Playing in London against Great Britain in a friendly game feels like a dream come true,” Deng said.

“Having the chance to play in my hometown in front of family, friends, and lifelong supporters is truly a storybook moment.”

However, coach Steutel aims for his own storybook moment with the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 window in November; he sees this as a chance to assess what to do next with the team moving forward.

“Any opportunity we get to bring the national team together is exceptionally positive, and we are so pleased we have been able to do this for the first time in a long time,” he said.

“So, of course, we want to evaluate and assess a range of different situations and scenarios with an eye on where we are in the current EuroBasket qualifying campaign.

You can still be part of the action on Thursday at 7:30pm by purchasing your tickets here, including the women’s side taking on Germany on Sunday at 3:00pm.

To keep up with all the latest action this summer, follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.