South Sudan vs Serbia Prediction & Betting Tips - Basketball World Cup

Prediction published on 29/08/2023, 19:10  by Joseph King | Modified on 29/08/2023 at 19:11 in Basketball World Cup Predictions

The final game of the first phase of the FIBA World Cup group stage sees leaders Serbia facing off against third-place South Sudan. 62nd-ranked South Sudan have been one of the surprises of the tournament so far. They took a heavily favored Puerto Rico side to the wire in overtime and upset 27th-ranked China in their second group stage game. They’ll now face their biggest test of the tournament so far when they come up against a Serbia team ranked sixth in the world. South Sudan have won three and lost three of their last six games overall. During that stretch they faced off against a top-10 ranked team in Australia. Things didn’t turn out well for Royal Ivey’s men in that encounter as they fell to a heavy 88-67 defeat. It could be a worrying sign for South Sudan as that was the only time they faced off against such high-level competition. They’ll undoubtedly be high in confidence but it remains to be seen whether they have enough talent to compete.

Serbia have been cruising so far and it’s understandable why the bookmakers have them as the third favorites behind the USA and Canada to win gold. Even without superstar Nikola Jokic, Serbia have demonstrated the immense firepower and talent that they possess. Serbia recorded one of the biggest wins of the competition with a 105-63 win over China in the tournament opener. They would follow that up with a rather routine 94-77 win over a Puerto Rico team boasting one of the NBA’s best offensive talents. Bogdan Bodanovic is leading the way for his team, scoring 14 points in the opener and 17 points in the following game. The Eagles have now won their last five on the bounce and eight of their last 10 across all competitions. They come into this fixture as heavy favorites and should be able to close out the first group phase with a perfect three wins from three.