After the frustration of the defeat against Serbia (96-85) which meant elimination for South Sudan, Carlik Jones still wanted to retain the positive from this first Olympic campaign.
Luol Deng's protégés participated in their first Olympic Games, and that was already a great achievement. We will also remember this friendly match against Team USA which was decided in the last moments, on a final basket by LeBron James, but also the first Olympic victory of this young nation against Puerto Rico, and finally this last match against Serbia, which was also decided by very little.
“I'm proud of my teammates, my coaches and how far we've come. Few people expected us to be here. Few people even expected us to be in the game,” said the naturalized playmaker after the defeat against the Serbs. “I think we played hard throughout the game and finished the game the right way. Of course, things didn't go the way we wanted.”
Encouraging for the future
For having spent the entire 40 minutes of play on the field, Carlik Jones (17 points, 10 assists) also criticized the referees in this match, particularly with regard to the number of free throws awarded to each team (31 to 6), as did Luol Deng and Royal Ivey.
“I don’t like to blame the referees in general, but I think the refereeing plays a role in allowing the other team to be more physical than us. I felt like throughout the game, guys were able to use their hands and do things that we weren’t allowed to do. And it affected us offensively or defensively, which prevented us from being as physical.”
This is unfortunately often the fate of “small” teams, and the former Bulls leader therefore hopes that his young country will come out of this ordeal stronger.
After such a start on the international scene, there is indeed reason to be enthusiastic about what comes next.
” This is just the beginning “, he added. “Not many people expected us to be here. I don't think many people expected us to perform as well as we did. We have to keep working. Only time will tell. I have confidence in them (…). We have to keep believing in ourselves and keep moving forward.”
