JACOB TUCKER PROVED that size doesn’t really matter at this week’s NCAA Slam Dunk contest, shrugging off the challenge of considerably taller opposition to win the annual competition in style.

The five-foot-eleven point guard from Illinois topped the pile on Thursday evening in Houston, executing a series of outrageous throw-downs to win the 23rd annual event.

Though Tucker was four inches shorter than the next smallest competitor, his win was a victory for the little guy in more than one respect. The tournament is traditionally contested among Division I players – those who feature in the sport’s March Madness tournament – while Tucker’s alma mater Illinois College currently play in Division III school.

The eventual winner wouldn’t have even been competing at the contest had he not been voted in via a Facebook competition after this online dunk compilation went viral.

It wasn’t a sympathy vote that handed him victory though. He opened the three-round contest with a stunning through-the-legs dunk, recording a maximum score of 50 points and bringing audience members such as NBA great Karl Malone to their feet.

Set a target of 46 in the final round, he pulled off an equally-audacious move to seal his victory, the judges awarding him a near-perfect score of 49 after he soared over the head of a ball-boy to make his winning dunk.

“It’s unbelievable, just because a lot of these other guys here are Division I players,” he said afterwards.

They’re used to being on the national stage, and this dunk contest, to their schools, didn’t necessarily mean as much. To be able to represent my school on a national stage is a real honor.