MANILA, Philippines: It was a chant that Luol Deng waited years to lead. He stood along the side of the South Sudan locker room after their run in the World Cup was over, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled the same thing, over and over. “Where we goin’?” he shouted. “Paris,” the players all responded.
Deng’s vision when he founded the national team about a decade ago was to use basketball as a beacon of hope for his homeland.
And his vision never seemed more real than on Saturday. A struggling country just 12 years removed from gaining its independence — making it the youngest nation in the world — is headed to the Paris Olympics as the automatic qualifier from Africa.
Carlik Jones finished with 26 points, 15 assists and seven rebounds, and South Sudan rolled past Angola 101-78 on Saturday in the final game of the World Cup for both teams.