Cal Basketball: Christian Tucker and Jeff Nwankwo Are Last of Nine Transfers to Sign

The Bears now have 12 scholarship players on the roster for 2024-25 - just one spot still open.

Christian Tucker tries to elude Wichita State defender / Photo by William Purnell, USA Today

After a furious three-week stretch in which coach Mark Madsen got nine Cal basketball commitments, the Bears completed the signing process on Friday, officially adding the final two players to their 2024-25 roster. 

Point guard Christian Tucker of Texas-San Antonio and junior college All-America forward Jeff Nwankwo both signed, giving the Bears a total of 12 scholarship players, including two returnees and incoming freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson.

Tucker, a 6-foot-3, 180-pounder, will arrive at Berkeley with one year of eligibility.

He ranked second in the American Athletic Conference, averaging 5.4 assists and compiled a 2.62 assist-to-turnover ratio. Tucker also averaged 11.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals as a starter in all 32 games for the Roadrunners.

Here are Madsen’s first public remarks about the Bears’ new point guard: 

“Christian is an exciting guard who plays the game the right way. He attacks the rim with aggression and always seems to maintain great vision to make every one of his teammates better. Christian’s court awareness and poise with the ball in his hands will elevate our offense immediately – he owned one of the nation’s best assist rates last season and we believe he’ll only get better. It’ll be great to have Christian as a Golden Bear.”

Tucker scored double digits 21 times last season, including a 12-point, 14-assist performance against Tulsa, which tied the program record for assists in a game and was one of three double-doubles he posted on the season.

A native of Los Angeles, Tucker graduated from Gilbert Perry High School in Chandler, Arizona, in 2021.

Nwankwo, a 6-6, 200-pounder, will have two seasons of eligibility with the Bears.

A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Nwankwo was the 2023-24 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Player of the Year after averaging 18.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals for Cowley College.

He also earned first-team NJCAA All-America honors while leading the Tigers to a 28-6 record a Sweet 16 appearance in the NJCAA championships.

Here is Madsen’s take on Nwankwo:

 

“Jeff is going to bring toughness, strong shooting and athleticism to our program. He’s a winning player with plenty of success under his belt at the junior college level. Jeff proved he’s a talented two-way player during an All-American season last year, and our coaching staff believes he’ll be someone our entire program can benefit from. We can’t wait to have Jeff and his family in Blue and Gold.”

Nwankwo scored a season-high 37 points and had 10 or more rebounds eight times. As a freshman, he averaged 10.7 points and 7.0 rebounds after missing the first 12 games due to an injury.

 

He actually began his college career as a football player at Tulane in 2021 before transferring to Cowley and changing sports. He was a two-time all-district honoree in basketball and an all-state wide receiver at Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Previously, Cal signed wing Andrej Stojakovic and center Mady Sissoko on Thursday, finalized things with forwards Joshua Ola-Joseph, Lee Dort and Rytis Petraitis on Wednesday, and signed forward BJ Omot and guard DeJuan “DJ” Campbell on Tuesday.