Remember When... Derek Rucker Dropped 24 Assists

The era of the pass-first, dime-dropping point guard is coming to an end. Positionless basketball and the evolution of the three-point shot has dramatically changed the position since the 1980s and 90s, and there is one NBL record from that period that will almost certainly stand the test of time - Derek Rucker’s 24 assist game from 1994.

Rucker's scoring capabilities as a point guard made him an anomaly in his own era. He was, perhaps, a player who played before his time.

A star scorer and shot-maker - whether that be for himself or his teammates - Rucker took the NBL by storm in his first professional season to earn league MVP and scoring title honours, averaging 34.6 points, 6.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game.

Derek Rucker was named as the NBL MVP and scoring champion in just his first professional season.

He left our shores for a stint with the Birmingham Bullets in the British Basketball League, but returned to the NBL with the Newcastle Falcons in 1994 and remained in the competition until his retirement in 2006.

The Rucker we saw in Newcastle was not the same player we had seen just three season prior at the Bullets though, and that was a measured decision according to the three-time All-NBL First Team selection.

“I wanted to play more of a balanced-type point guard position and do what I felt more comfortable with,” Rucker told NBL Media of the historic game. “That was helping facilitate for others as well as finding key times to score.

“I was really focused on that, and I had really good teammates – guys who could put the ball in the hole, and the way the offence was set up allowed me to really chase some good assist numbers throughout the season.

“We went into that game 0-3 – we’d gotten off to a rough start and we played Geelong again just the week before at their place and lost.

“I remember my coach – Tom Wisman – was disappointed. During the week leading up to that game he was really coming down on me with quite a bit of pressure to lift the team’s performance to get that first victory of the season.”

As he proved countless times throughout his incredible NBL career, pressure brought the best out of Rucker.

His Falcons side surged out to a 19-point quarter time lead, before extending the margin out to 25 by half-time.

A one-point margin in their favour broke the back of the Supercats by the end of the third term, as the Falcons waltzed to a 24-point win.

Rucker, ever the scoring machine, did not sacrifice his own game in order to involve his teammates. He was one of four Falcons to score over 20 points in the clash – alongside Terry Dozier, Tommy Jensen and Michael Johnson – and top scored for the game with 24 points.

Tonny Jensen, Terry Dozier and Michael Johnson (L-R) all joined Rucker in scoring 20 points for the game.

Paul Kuiper also chipped in with 19 points of his own.

The final score stood at 130-106, and Rucker's numbers? 24 points, four rebounds, three steals and a conjectured 24 assists.

“A couple of people have told me when that game was run on the NBL website over lockdown they counted the assists,” he said. “I’ve heard that I had anywhere from 22 to 27.

“I knew I was starting off well in the first quarter, because I had some nice dump-offs to Paul Kuiper, and a couple of other guys were able to knock down some shots.

“Geelong didn’t put up much resistance from late in the third quarter onwards, so I was really able to rack up the numbers off fast-break opportunities.”

Rucker’s 24-assist performance was not a flash in the pan performance. While it's the bright spark of his time in Newcastle - and possibly in the NBL - high assist numbers became the norm.

While he maintained the electric scoring ability for which he became so famous, Round 4, 1994 was not a weekend where he caught lightening in a bottle.

Rucker opened the season with 18 assists against Adelaide in a two-point defeat. For parity, he also added 22 points and four steals in the loss.

He would go on to register 16 assists in a Round 13 win over Hobart, and two different games with 13 assists across the season.

His average of 10.6 assists per game across that season is an NBL record in itself, and he ranks third in career-average of player to have played over 150 games, with 6.9 assists per game across 411 NBL appearances.

Only Darryl McDonald and Ricky Grace sit ahead of him.

With the way the game has changed, it’s unlikely it’s a marker that will ever be beaten – but Rucker has nominated a current player he believes could get close.

“If someone is able to get 15 assists in a 40-minute game that would be outstanding,” he said. “So many guys play nowadays it’s rare to see someone log 36 or 37 minutes.

“I think it’s going to be a tough one to beat, but someone like Mitch McCarron could potentially get it.

“He goes on runs sometimes with his assists, and I think CJ (Bruton) is a bit more old school with his substitutions, so he’s more likely to allow Mitch to stay in a game.

Mitch McCarron's NBL career-best 12 assists came against Brisbane in 2021.

“He could definitely get up to that 15, 16, 17 assist mark in a 40-minute game.”

The Falcons finished the 1994 season with a 13-13 record, and missed the post-season on head-to-head record having lost both clashes with the Illawarra Hawks – who also finished 13-13.

1994 was the guard’s first and only season with the Falcons. He then moved to Townsville and Western Sydney before finishing his career with the Bullets.

Despite playing just one campaign with a club that would exit the league before the turn of the millennium, Rucker’s 1994 campaign is one steeped in history.