Sophomore guard Isiah Tucker will be in familiar surroundings today when Winston-Salem State plays N.C. State at 2 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.
Tucker, a Raleigh native, played pickup games at Reynolds Coliseum when he was in high school, and he credits them for helping him land a college scholarship.
"I'm excited to go back home and play," Tucker said. "My mom (Aleshia) and about 40 friends and family should be there."
Tucker played at Word of God Academy and also played two summers of pickup games at State, with and against former Wolfpack players such as Julius Hodge, Anthony Grundy and Andrew Brackman.
"Anthony and I are related, so he kind of snuck me into the open gym there in the summers, and I played with all those guys," Tucker said. "It was great experience, and I learned a lot from those guys."
Tucker said it's nice that the Rams will play in Reynolds Coliseum but that he would rather have played at the RBC Center, where the Wolfpack plays most of its home games.
"I think it's almost like a slap in the face that our game is at Reynolds," Tucker said. "But either way, I'm excited about getting the chance to play at home in Raleigh."
The Rams (1-6) are coming off their first victory of the season, 68-65 over S.C. State.
They played without leading scorer Jamal Durham (shoulder injury), and Tucker said that made the victory all the more important.
"We've got a bunch of confidence because we won that game the other night without our leading scorer and captain," Tucker said.
"We are learning how to play with each other, and it showed against S.C. State what we can do if we follow coach's game plan."
N.C. State (4-1) is coming off its first loss of the season, 72-67 last weekend to No. 22 Davidson. The Wolfpack couldn't get the ball inside against the smaller Wildcats, and that proved costly.
Ben McCauley leads the Wolfpack in scoring (15.4 ppg), and Courtney Fells (13.6 ppg) and Brandon Costner (12.4 ppg) are next.
However, Coach Sidney Lowe of N.C. State said that whether Fells plays will be a game-time decision.
Lowe said yesterday that Fells didn't practice Thursday because of an ankle bruise he suffered last weekend against Davidson. If Fells doesn't play today, Lowe said he thinks that he should be back for Wednesday's game against East Carolina.
Tucker said that the Rams will have their hands full but that he also thinks there's the chance for an upset.
"You saw in the game against Wake Forest for the first half, we stuck to Coach's plan and were in the game," Tucker said, referring to Coach Bobby Collins' slow-down tactics. "We have to play together and play hard."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or jdell@wsjournal.com.
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