2023 Basketball World Cup: South Sudan, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast earn debut wins

The African nations are lighting up the FIBA World Cup 2023.

Just one day after Angola got the better of co-hosts the Philippines 80-70 in Group A, Cape Verde and South Sudan had a watershed moment on Monday (28 August) as they both won their first-ever game at the FIBA World Cup.

South Sudan went to bat first, handsomely defeating The People’s Republic of China 89-69 in Group B in Manila behind 21 points and six assists from Carlik Jones – the most lopsided World Cup loss for China to an African team.

Shortly afterwards in Okinawa in Group F, Cape Verde knocked out Venezuela 81-75 as Betinho Gomes scored 22 points.

The South Sudanese, who wrap up the first round on Wednesday against Serbia, managed to bounce back from a heartbreaking defeat to Puerto Rico two days ago although the World Cup debutantes led for more than 35 minutes.

Cape Verde were thumped 85-60 by Georgia in their opening game. They take on Luka Doncic and Slovenia to end the group phase.

Africa produced another winner on this day, as Ivory Coast beat Iran by a hair 71-69 in Group G as Behnam Yakhchali missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in Jakarta.