Jayson Tatum, Team USA dispatch Khaman Maluach and South Sudan at the Olympics

In a battle of Duke basketball stars past and future, Jayson Tatum and Team USA battled past Khaman Maluach and South Sudan on Wednesday.

In a battle of Duke basketball stars, the elder statesman got the better of the incoming freshman on Wednesday.

[autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] and Team USA dispatched [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] and South Sudan in the second game of Olympic men’s basketball group play, winning 103-86.

Tatum, the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, is already making a strong case as the best men’s basketball player in Duke history at 26 years old. He won his first NBA title with the Boston Celtics earlier this summer, and a victory in Paris would give him his second Olympic gold medal.

After Tatum notably didn’t play in Team USA’s opening victory over Serbia, he finished with four points, five rebounds, and two assists on Wednesday.

While South Sudan didn’t get the better of the Americans on Wednesday, Maluach and his teammates recorded the country’s first win in Olympic history when they beat Puerto Rico in the opening game.

Maluach, one of four five-star signees in Duke’s 2024 recruiting class, didn’t score any points for his country on Wednesday after he tallied two points and two rebounds in the first game.

Tatum and Team USA locked up a place in the quarterfinals with the second group stage victory while Maluach and South Sudan will play Serbia on Saturday for second place in Group C. The top two teams from all three groups clinch a spot in the final eight with two other spots available for the top remaining teams.