China loses to South Sudan at 2023 FIBA World Cup

MANILA - China swallowed its second defeat at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup after losing to Group B rival South Sudan 89-69 here on Monday.

Li Kaier scored a game-high 22 points to lead China's box score, and Zhao Rui added 13. In the paint, Zhou Qi contributed 10 points and Wang Zhelin only pocketed a bleak two.

On South Sudan's side, Carlik Jones took a team-high 21 points and Kuany Ngor Kuany added 16, while NBA player Wenyen Gabriel only scored three points in 20 minutes.

Chinese guard Zhao Rui remained in hot form, netting a 3-pointer to get China's first points. Zhao, the guard who scored 17 in China's tournament opener, wasn't wasting opportunities as he made four out of seven attempts in his 31 minutes of appearance.

Li broke his scoreless curse early in the first quarter, as the 206cm-tall forward drove and banked a floater in his rhythm. He then showed his basketball intelligence by drawing a foul with his shooting form ready. 22 points, three assists and five rebounds, the all-round player's chemistry with the team was getting more stable.

Even though China seemed to figure out how to play its game right, South Sudan responded quickly with long shots behind the arc. Led by Carlik Jones, who just had a magnificent finish of 35 points and 11 assists against Puerto Rico, the World Cup debutants nailed jaw-dropping 15 3-pointers with 50% shooting percentage during the whole game.

"They are a great experienced team, a lot of ball handlers, a lot of players who know how to take advantage of something what they create on the floor," China's head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic commented on the winning team.

"They hit some really big threes at the end of our defense like 23rd, 24th second, they are just cutting your legs when you work so hard. And what is coming, if they shoot in your face and just make it happen," said Djordjevic.

The Serbian coach urged his side to play more aggressively. "In the first half, we exactly knew the game plan, the guys were ready for it. We executed well," Djordjevic recalled, adding "[We have] a little bit [of a] lack of our aggressiveness on the ball once the situations for shooting come up."

China now stays at the bottom of Group B and is set to compete with their last opponent Puerto Rico in the group phase.