Walker dedicated to defense
Darrell Walker’s got his group ahead of schedule. And with more than a month until the start of the season, that’s a pretty good place to be.
The University of Arkansas-Little Rock had its first official preseason practice Wednesday afternoon, running for a little more than two hours on Derek Fisher Court inside the Jack Stephens Center. The session finished with guard C.J. White hitting one of two free throws, putting his Maroon team ahead before a last-second shot from the White side came up short.
With Walker, it’s always about defense. Although the Trojans adjusted defensive efficiency has been about the same during Walker’s tenure — it’s hovered around 105 per KenPom.com — it was closer to the bottom of the Sun Belt rather than the top.
“I think this group has a chance to be really good defensively,” Walker said. “I thought we were pretty good defensively last year, we just couldn’t score the basketball. … If we can get it down [from 68.5 points allowed per game] to 66 or 67, that would be great. It doesn’t seem like a big jump but it is, and I think we’re capable of doing it.”
UALR will have the services of senior center Nikola Maric, who returns after a junior season in which he led the Trojans with 14.0 points per game in nearly 32 minutes a night.
But Walker will need to replace his next three top scorers — Ruot Monyyong is now playing in Bulgaria, Markquis Nowell is at Kansas State and Ben Coupet Jr. will play for Southern Illinois, who will travel to Little Rock for the season opener Nov. 9.
UALR is also managing multiple injuries. Freshman forward Ethan Speaker, a Boulder City, Nev., native that Walker thinks could be an impact player this season, is not practicing. Neither is Myron Gardner — the former three-star recruit who spent his freshman year at Georgetown before playing junior college in Texas last season is in a boot and on crutches because of a stress fracture.
All that said, Walker is still having fun. The 60-yearold didn’t hesitate to give one of his players grief when he tried to evade stretching at the end of Wednesday’s session.
“Nobody thinks they’re bigger than the program,” Walker said. “So it’s been a joy to coach this team.”