ST. LOUIS (AP) Joah Tucker was in his element Tuesday night, and it showed.
Doing most of his work inside, the 6-foot-5 swingman poured in a game-high 21 points to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a 57-47 win over Saint Louis University.
"I like that kind of game," Tucker said. "There weren't a lot of flop calls or anything."
Wisconsin-Milwaukee said that Tucker has been one of the main reasons that the Panthers are off to a perfect 6-0 start.
"He's a man," Coach Bruce Pearl said. "He refuses to let us lose."
Tucker poses problems for many teams, as he is big enough to bang inside and a good enough shooter to hang on the perimeter.
"Most teams are going to have trouble matching up with him," Pearl said.
The biggest problem for the Billikens, though, has been defense, not offense. Saint Louis entered the game averaging 54.4 points on 37.5 percent shooting. The Billikens did nothing to improve that, as Saint Louis shot 37 percent (17-of-46) on the night and made only nine of 18 free throws.
"This was my definition of a losing nightmare," Saint Louis coach Brad Soderberg said. "We're really struggling to score right now. That's the bottom line."
Reggie Bryant led the Billikens with 10 points. Saint Louis (1-5) is off to its worst start since 1991-92 when Saint Louis began 1-8.
The Panthers, meanwhile, are off to their best start since 1992-93 when they began 8-0. Pearl was happy to escape with any kind of victory.
"That's a road win at a Conference USA school," he said. "We got exactly the kind of game we expected."
Saint Louis had lost its last two games at home by one point. The Panthers tried to take the suspense out of this one early, as Wisconsin-Milwaukee scored the game's first 12 points. Saint Louis did not get on the board until Izik Ohanon scored inside with 14:44 left in the half to make it 12-2.
That basket started a 12-3 run for Saint Louis that got the Billikens back in the game. But after Anthony Drejaj scored to make it 15-12 with 11:15 to play in the half, Ed McCants hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Panthers a nine-point lead. Behind Tucker's 10 points, Wisconsin-Milwaukee took a 30-25 advantage into the locker room.
Saint Louis tied the game at 30-30 on a 3-pointer by Bryant and a jumper by Ohanon. But Saint Louis never managed to grab the lead, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee began to slowly build an advantage.
The Panthers got the lead back to nine after a Tucker slam and a 3-pointer from the top of the key by McCoy that made it 50-41 with 4:29 left. Saint Louis never got closer than six after that.
