FORWARD PROGRESS
Vols freshman Walker gets praise from coach
KNOXVILLE — Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes was nearing the end of a lengthy analysis regarding what he has learned about his team as it nears the midway point of Southeastern Conference play.
The No. 22 Volunteers (14-5, 5-3) had just withstood a furious comeback from Vanderbilt for their fifth win in six games, but Barnes was lamenting Tennessee’s lack of defensive consistency and suggesting its fundamentals and energy were slipping at the end of a fourth game in 10 days.
Then he pivoted for a moment.
“I thought Derrick Walker was terrific again tonight,” Barnes said. “That’s two games in a row now. Hopefully he can keep going with that.”
Walker provided exactly what Barnes believed was otherwise slipping away from the Vols in Tuesday night’s 67-62 win over the Commodores.
“Bring energy, defend, ball screens, pick and rolls and rebound,” Walker said after the game as he discussed his role.
After playing a combined 15 minutes in Tennessee’s first five SEC games this season, Walker has bullied his way into an increased role behind starting post players Kyle Alexander and Grant Williams.
The freshman forward scored five points and pulled down six rebounds in 17 minutes against Vanderbilt, following up on a career-high 10 points he scored in 25 minutes during Saturday’s 70-63 victory at South Carolina.
Points are one measure for productivity, but it’s the intangibles that have allowed the 6-foot-8 Walker to unseat redshirt freshman John Fulkerson in the playing rotation the past two games.
“Just being aggressive and tough,” Williams said of Walker. “That’s something Derrick did in the summer and that’s something we’ve been waiting for him to do most of the year. It’s finally coming out for him. He’s finally being more aggressive and getting on the glass and being a presence.”
Against Vanderbilt, a pair of offensive rebounds by Walker led to five second-chance points in a span of 63 seconds. When he checked out of the game soon after, Walker received an ovation from the crowd.
As Williams alluded to, Walker helped carry the Vols to a 3-0 record during a summer trip to Europe by averaging 13 points and eight rebounds per game. He was continuing to impress Tennessee’s coaching staff during preseason practice before a concussion slowed his progress.
That setback, combined with experiencing the rigors of college basketball for the first time, kept Walker from displaying his full potential early in the season.
“Just staying in shape, being in the right spot at the right time. It’s a lot of traveling, a lot of film,” Walker said. “So every day you’ve just got to be locked in to who we’re playing and what we’ve got going on.”
Walker mentioned the word energy repeatedly after Tuesday night’s win as he discussed his recent emergence. He said he can be a scorer, too, but he has to put more work into his game first.
Right now, he is embracing the role that has his coach calling him out in a good way.
“I took a couple steps forward,” Walker said. “My biggest thing is just bringing a lot of energy. I want to be a great energy guy on our team, a guy who can talk, a guy who can rebound and defend.”
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @ DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.