Wenyen Gabriel and South Sudan, which entered the 2023 FIBA World Cup ranked as the 62nd-best country, traveled to Asia with hopes of pulling off a Cinderella run. Unfortunately, that’s not how it played out for the former Kentucky Wildcat and his home country, but South Sudan certainly made some noise within the international basketball scene.
South Sudan failed to advance to the second round of the World Cup, losing two of its three pool play games. They first lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Puerto Rico before cruising past China by 20 points but lost a decisive third game to No.