Lately when Dakarai Tucker steps out onto the court, he finds himself open on the three-point line, and more often than not, he scores.
Coming off the bench against Stanford, Tucker finished with 17 points and was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, the most points he has scored in Pac-12 play this season. Before this, he only scored three points against Cal, 10 points against Washington and zero against Washington State.
Although his personal stats have been something of a roller coaster, he’s not paying too much attention to the numbers. Even against the Cardinal, he didn’t even know he scored 17 points when it was all said and done, and part of this is because he is putting in extra hours in the gym.
At the end of every practice, Tucker will stay late and take an extra 40 shots to close out the day. In addition to that, sometimes in the middle of the night, he’ll find himself on the court working on his game. He thinks this is helping him find a better rhythm, but more so, the game is coming easier to him because of it.
“I practice shooting 20 jump shots and 20 threes in a row before I leave, so that’s been a turnaround for me to get me back into the flow of things,” Tucker said.
Brandon Taylor thinks his teammate deserves more attention for all the effort he puts in and is glad to finally see it translate to the court. He knows whatever Tucker brings to the game is bettering the team as a whole as it moves forward.
“Karai is one of those guys who works so hard, and he’s always putting up shots and watching film, so it’s good to see it all come together,” Taylor said. “This is going to be continual for Karai.”
Tucker doesn’t think his play is a direct result of his extra emphasis on shooting. Since the team’s sloppy play opening up the Pac-12 season, the coaches have been making sure the Utes focus on all the details, no matter how big or small.
One coach who has really been working with Tucker is Scott McByrne, the team’s video coordinator. Tucker attributes his success to him. He’s placed Tucker in a better mindset, one where he doesn’t care how many points he scores so long as he’s doing whatever he can to help his team win.
“I’m going out there and having fun and focusing on simple things, something the coaches have been really preaching on to me, especially Scottie,” Tucker said. “Just go out there and do the simple things and just let everything come to me.”
Although opposing teams are certainly aware of his abilities from beyond the arc, he still manages to get an open shot, but it’s not without his fair share of work. Since Tucker comes off the bench for the Utes, he’s able to spot openings others may not see. Once he’s on the court, he finds those openings and tries to get to that spot without being noticed. From there, he is able to get a teammate’s attention to pass him the ball.
Part of his motivation stems from the fact that this is his final season as a Ute. He wants to leave his mark on the program, and he does that by displaying his skills. Tucker may not be the most vocal person out there, but he brings a new mentality no one else on the team has.
“My days here are numbered, so I don’t want my senior year to go down the drain as me not showing up,” Tucker said. “I try and be the energy person. That’s something I’ve been known for because I have a different type of motor, and I try and give the team energy.”
As the team readies itself to go against Oregon State on Thursday night, Tucker knows they’ll put up a fight and thinks they have a good shot of sweeping the season series because of Utah’s new and refined focus since narrowly escaping the Beavers the first time.
“We’ll show them that it’s not going to be an easy game,” Tucker said.
Game is set for 8 p.m. PT.
@kbrenneisen