South Sudan's coach and basketball federation president have claimed referees were biased against their team after a 96-85 loss to Serbia that ended an exciting run for the lone African team in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament.
Bogdan Bogdanovic and NBA MVP Nikola Jokic led the way to help Serbia move into next week's quarter-finals while the loss meant South Sudan missed out on the final wildcard spot to Greece on points differential.
Marial Shayok and Carlik Jones had 17 points each for South Sudan, who feature a host of current and former NBL players.
But South Sudan coach Royal Ivey pointed to a wide foul discrepancy as evidence of bias by game officials, and federation president Luol Deng and Deng said African referees should be part of major international tournaments.
“They shot 31 free throws, we shot six free throws?” Ivey said after the game. “Let’s tell the story. Let’s tell the real story, because that’s a travesty. How do they shoot 31 free throws and we shoot six free throws? How?”
Ivey said referees complained about his players standing in the bench area and threatened him with ejection for being out of the coach's box, while tolerating similar behaviour by Serbia's coach.
“My guys were out there giving their all, blood, sweat and tears and you tell me how we shot six free throws? We shot one free throw in the second half,” Ivey said.
Deng, who starred at Duke and played 16 seasons in the NBA, said he thought the discrepancy was "deliberate."
“I know Serbia is known for basketball, they've been great for many years," Deng said. “The way, the style the guards play, it's almost like the ref knows them. It's OK if the refs know certain players to let them play their style. As soon as our guys play their style, they're getting fouls every time.”
He questioned why there seems to be a narrative that African players are aggressive.
“I don't know why there's no African referees in the Olympics. It's 2024,” Deng said. “If we're representing the continent then we've got to be represented fully. That's something that we've to to keep working on.
"But if these referees aren't familiar with our game, with our style - then I don't know what the world championship or the Olympics is. Is it just a European basketball style and we're not allowed to be aggressive?”
Bogdanovic acknowledged Serbia were wary of the quality of 33rd-ranked South Sudan, who had garnered plenty of atttention before the Games when they led the US late in an exhibition game in London before ultimately falling by a point.
The Africans then beat Puerto Rico in their Games opener.
“I was scared of South Sudan before the game. They had a great tournament,” Bogdanovic said. “Respect to them. We’ve known them since the World Cup. They really got better.”
