When SIUC basketball coach Rich Herrin talked to Tucker, who plays both the guard and forward positions for the SIUC men’s basketball team, about transferring from Northern Oklahoma Junior College, it was made clear that he would not have a chance to start as a junior, but Tucker set that aside for the opportunity to play for the Salukis.

We told him we didn’t think he had a chance to start as a junior, but we wanted him on the basketball team, Herrin said. Not many guys would have accepted that. He accepted that, and I think that’s the first thing, he’s an outstanding young man.

Tucker has, to say the least, been a surprise for the Dawgs this season.

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After playing in mainly a back-up role through most of last season, Herrin said he developed into an outstanding player the last month of the season, especially with his effort in defending Tulsa’s Alvin Williamson in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship game when Williamson was held to a 1-for-9 shooting performance.

He developed confidence, and that’s the most important thing, Herrin said. (After the performance against Williamson) people began to believe in him they looked to him. He’s the leader of our team.

This season, Tucker has led the Salukis in scoring, rebounding, and free-throw percentage, but that was not always the case for him.

After high school, Tucker attended and played at Northern Oklahoma Junior College, where he said he learned to play the guard position, even though he prefers to play forward.

In high school, I was a big man, but I knew that when I reached the university level I was going to have to play guard, he said. I learned a lot there when I played with Tony Lincoln who went to Florida. The Junior College level is up tempo, so that helped me out a lot.

I prefer to play forward because you can go for more rebounds and shoot jumpers, and coming off the pick and shooting a jumper is my main game.

With Tucker’s improved play on the offensive end of the floor this season (he shot only 39 percent from the floor last season averaging 4.1 points per game), the Salukis have had a balanced inside-outside shooting attack between Tucker (19 ppg) and Shane Hawkins (13.5 ppg), who are both connecting on 47-percent of their shots.

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This summer I worked hard on my jumper, he said. (With Hawkins also shooting well) it opens up the game especially if they start guarding against me taking the 16-foot jumper, then that leaves it open for other guys like Shane and Scott (Burzynski) outside.

Even with Tucker’s solid play on offense, he ranks defense as the number one priority in his game, and said leadership was the number two priority for him.

It’s always number one because defense wins games, he said. If you can score on defense that gives you extra points. Through high school and college the coaches always stressed defense, so that’s one of my main priorities.

With a 2-0 start this season, Tucker’s leadership role is what may be most important for this season’s young squad, and Tucker said he will do all he can to make sure the team keeps its intensity through the entire season.

I try my best to do anything especially in practice because hard work pays off, he said. We’ve been working hard in practice, and it’s been paying off for us so far. Everyone’s excited about playing, they work hard. We don’t have as much pressure on us (as last season’s team) so we can, not necessarily lay back, but have more fun playing the game.

One of the young players that may be able to learn a great deal from Tucker is freshman forward Monte Jenkins.

In practice he does a great job and also helps me out a lot with back-door cuts and the whole offense, Jenkins said. He’s been a big help since the season started, and he’s been on me and I appreciate it. When you’ve got someone who cares about you and tells you to do this and that, it helps a lot, and makes you feel good.

Jenkins said Tucker takes the blame for the team’s mistakes, and that helps the confidence level for the entire team.

He blames it on himself because he’s the leader out here, and it’s his job to step up front and help everyone out.

On top of the compliments from the team and coaches, Herrin used four words to describe Tucker as a whole.

He’s a class individual, he said.