It was a team effort for Africa's top-ranked team, Both Tut Gach leading the scoring with 15, five more than Lok Wur, as all but one of South Sudan's players made at least two points. Mohamed Sadi and Adrees Zeew stared for Sam Vincent's side with 19 and 13 points respectively, but it was not enough to hand them victory
Last Updated on
November 28, 2025
South Sudan's Bright Stars, once again, under the guidance of the legendary Luol Deng, recovered from a slow start in their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 African Qualifiers opener against Libya to register a comfortable 79-55 victory, getting their campaign off to a spectacular start.
The team previously made history, qualifying for the 2023 global event in their first attempt, off a spectacular 11-1 record in the qualifiers.
As they began their journey back to the global stage, coming off a disappointing AfroBasket 2025, and with a reputation to uphold, the 2024 Olympians trailed early, Mohamed Sadi's first of five successful threes taking the North Africans 7-2 ahead. Kur Kuath levelled the score at nine, Makur Maker giving the Stars their first short-lived lead.
Adrees Zeew stole the ball from Both Tut Gach, racing down the court to feed 99 Mohamed Ramadan Buzgaiya's three-point attempt. Zeew bounced on the rebound, stepping back for a three to grab the lead right back as Sadi added his second for 15-11.
Gach kept South Sudan in the game with back-to-back layups. Still, Sadi's perimeter shooting and Ghayth Alrahman Almaghribi's five-point contribution kept the North Africans ahead for a 23-19 opening quarter.
Deng's charges made adjustments in the second quarter, capitalising on Libya's ball-handling to level the score at 23 two minutes in and again at 29 halfway through the stanza, forcing coach James Sam Vincent into a much-needed timeout. They, however, couldn't find an immediate solution to Stars' momentum, as the latter went on a 10-point run to take a 33-29 lead.
Another seven-point run for the top-ranked African side, including a Lok Wur three, extended South Sudan's advantage in a 26-13 quarter to nine.
In one of the lowest-scoring quarters of the day, Libya had Sadi and Buzgaiya as the only scorers in a 9-9 quarter, a bizarre exchange of missed opportunities and empty possessions, with turnover after turnover on either side, leaving it 54-45 heading into the final stanza.
An 11-2 run in the opening three minutes of the fourth quarter all but won the match for Deng's charges, as Libya played a disastrous 25-10 final period. The side was beaten on the paint 40-16, 34-12 on fastbreaks, and their bench flexed with a 39-5 lead in contributions for victory.
"It is a good win and a good way to start our world cup campaign. We have a lot of guys playing for the first time and I am happy that they get to participate. Libya showed a lot of improvement and being our first time to play with this group, we made a lot of mistakes, but were able to remain consistent as the game went on.
Tomorrow is a very challenging game (against Cape Verde)and we will try to stay locked in and focus on the journey back to the World stage," South Sudan head coach Luol Deng said.
"We had three very good quarters of basketball. We shot and defended well, and we did the right thing offensively to keep the game closed. I think their experience and chemistry having played together longer and in much tougher competition got too much for us in the fourth.
The focus for us it to keep playing better and that's what we will do," Libya head coach Sam Vincent said after his side's loss.
[Photography Courtesy of FIBA]
