The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Ivey to serve as head coach for South Sudan Olympic Men’s Basketball Team
07.08.2024 | Men's Basketball
Former Longhorn star and current Houston Rockets assistant will make his first appearance at the Olympics.
AUSTIN, Texas — Former University of Texas standout and current Houston Rockets assistant coach Royal Ivey will serve as the head coach for the 2024 South Sudan Olympic Men's Basketball team. Ivey coached South Sudan to a 101-78 victory over Angola in September 2023 at the World Cup in the Philippines to help South Sudan claim the automatic qualifying spot from Africa in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of conflict. The country sent its first athlete, a marathoner, to the 2012 London Olympics as an independent athlete competing under the Olympic flag. The International Olympic Committee made South Sudan a full member in 2015.
Former NBA All-Star Luol Deng personally funded his native country's program. Deng, now the president of South Sudan Basketball Federation, attended the same prep school in the United States (Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J.) as Ivey. On May 3, 2021, Deng named Ivey as the head coach of the national team of South Sudan. Ivey coached the team at AfroBasket 2021, the first major tournament that the country participated in. Over the next two summers, Ivey guided South Sudan to an 11-1 record in African qualifying to reach the 2023 World Cup.
A four-year starter (2001-04) at both point guard and shooting guard during his career at Texas, Ivey left his mark as one of the top one-on-one perimeter defenders in program history. A two-time Big 12 Conference All-Defensive Team selection, he finished his collegiate career ranked first in games started (126), tied for third in games played (133) and No. 24 in scoring (1,036 points). Ivey helped lead the Longhorns to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including three-straight trips to the Sweet 16 (2002-03-04) and a spot in the 2003 Final Four.
The No. 37 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, Ivey played in 492 career games over a total of nine seasons for four different teams in the NBA, including the Hawks (2004-07), Milwaukee Bucks (2007-08, 2009-10), Philadelphia 76ers (2008-10, 2012-13) and Oklahoma City Thunder (2010-12). He began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA Development League for two seasons (2014-16) and has later served as an assistant coach in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder (2016-18), New York Knicks (2018-20), Brooklyn Nets (2020-23) and currently with the Houston Rockets (2023-present).
The South Sudan National Team will compete at the Paris Olympic Games on July 26-August 11. As part of Group C, South Sudan will face Puerto Rico on July 28, the United States on July 31 and Serbia on August 3 in the first round of the Olympic tournament. The group phase will take place in Lille, France (Pierre Mauroy Stadium), before the tournament moves to Paris for knockout and medal rounds.
