Anthony Tucker’s return to the practice court Thursday at Iowa isn’t taking first-year Drake basketball coach Mark Phelps by surprised.

A couple of hours before Hawkeye coach Todd Lickliter announced that the suspended guard would be rejoining the team for Thursday afternoon’s practice, the Bulldogs coach said his team certainly had Tucker and his 44-percent shooting touch from 3-point range on its radar as it prepares for Saturday’s 3 p.m. game at the Knapp Center.

“Absolutely we are preparing for him,” Phelps said. “We don’t know what the final verdict will be as to whether he will play or not, but we will be ready for him. He’s a terrific freshman and we’re planning on him playing on Saturday.”

Tucker hasn’t played in a game since Dec. 5, sitting Iowa’s last two wins following his arrest on public intoxication charges. Lickliter said his performance in practice will determine if or how much Tucker plays against the Bulldogs.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 4:49 pm and is filed under Hawkeyes Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.