Tuck's call as Sharks come back from break

The Sharks, who went into the lay-off following narrow defeats to early pace-setters ESH Group Eagles Newcastle and second-placed Leicester Riders, face Manchester Giants in Lancashire on Sunday.

And Tuck, who was called into the England Basketball set-up alongside fellow Shark Zach Gachette during Sheffield’s BBL break, says the Sharks are raring to go.

“It’s tough to go into a two-week break with two losses on your mind, but this break has energised our guys,” he said.

“We have a series of games coming up and the guys who needed a rest have got back on track injury-wise. It’s a great game for us to get back on our feet and get back to winning ways.

“The last couple of weeks have been mixed emotions. Getting called up to the England squad was amazing, but we dropped two games before that.

“We expect more from ourselves. The positives that we can take away are that we fought back in both games and made them close games. We just have to start games better so that we don’t have to fight back.”

Tuck, along with Gachette, made it through to the final stage of selection for England Basketball ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia’s Gold Coast – and says it was an ‘honour’ to get the call.

“The England camp was amazing,” he said. “It was a great camp, It was really well organised and there were some really great players there.

“The competition was really good. The intensity was high for the entire camp and I think that’s going to help build a strong team going towards the Commonwealths.”