JT Thor and South Sudan Near Stunning Victory Over Team USA

Former Auburn (autotag) forward JT Thor (/autotag) and South Sudan nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time on Saturday afternoon.

Playing an exhibition against a 47+ point favorite Team USA, the Bright Stars were seconds away from causing enough hysteria in the city of London to bring down bridges. After going into the locker room with a double-digit lead, the least experienced team in the Olympic field lost 101-100 in the final seconds of the game on a LeBron James layup.

James, who has more Olympic gold medals (3) than South Sudan has Olympic participations (2), led the way for the red-white-blue with 23 points on an efficient 10/14 from the field, including the eventual game winner with less than 20 seconds on the clock. Before James’ heroics, it was former Tiger JT Thor who seemed to strike lightning in a bottle.

With his team down 99-97, the Charlotte Hornets forward calmly slotted a step-back corner three-pointer in front of the aforementioned Los Angeles Lakers legend to put his country up 100-99. The long ball was Thor’s only 3-pointer of the game, though he contributed heavily elsewhere, finishing with 14 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in 18 minutes of action.

Thor’s 14 points were good enough for third place for the Bright Stars, trailing only NBA veteran Carlik Jones (15 points) and Marial Shayok (24) on the stat sheet. Jones, who last played for the club in 2023 for the Chicago Bulls, did his best Michael Jordan impression across the pond, with a triple-double performance of 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the loss. Shayok, who played college basketball at Iowa State with Team USA member Tyrese Haliburton, was not only his team’s leading scorer, but also the game’s leading scorer.

The former Auburn Tiger and his Bright Stars colleagues have the basketball world on edge despite the loss. While South Sudan still has a long way to go to secure a podium spot in the games, the moral victory should bode well for the team’s chances in Paris. As for Team USA, it’s clear that France won’t be all butterflies and cakes for the favorites.

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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: JT Thor and South Sudan pull off near-stunning performance against Team USA