NBA Player And South Sudan Star Shares Powerful And Heartfelt Words About Country

NBA player and South Sudan star Wenyen Gabriel , who attended Kentucky and moved to the United States when he was three years old, shared some very powerful and heartfelt words after his team nearly knocked off the U.S. after being 43.5 point underdogs.

"Lot of people around the world didn't know what South Sudan was. We was able to represent our country with pride and put up a good fight and show the potential of the country." Gabriel then added, "We don't have any indoor basketball courts in our country. We're a bunch of refugees that came together... playing against some of the best players ever. This is much bigger than basketball for us."

Nobody thought South Sudan had a chance. However, longtime NBA player Luol Deng has done a fantastic job building the culture and structuring the national team, and Saturday's game was a display of the competent work he has done alongside Royal Ivey who steers the ship as the team's head coach.

LeBron James hit a game winner with eight seconds remaining that put them up 101-100, and South Sudan couldn't get one to fall after getting a good look for the win.

Carlik Jones was the most impressive player on the court, racking up a staggering triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. Gabriel contributed 11 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Then Marial Shayok , former Virginia Cavalier, hit six threes, scoring 24 points.

The U.S. will meet them again in group play, yet, like Gabriel said, this is about more than basketball, and they just made the entire world recognize that South Sudan is here to stay.

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