D-II foe familiar to UALR’s Walker

Darrell Walker is a bit familiar with Miles College.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock men’s coach met the Golden Bears from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a Division II league, three times as Clark Atlanta University’s head coach from 20162018.

The Trojans (4-6) will host Miles College (4-3) tonight in their final home game of 2018 at 6:30 p.m. inside the Jack Stephens Center.

“They were a very scrappy team,” Walker recalled Monday. “Always competitive. Always played very hard. It wasn’t an easy game for us.”

In two seasons at Clark Atlanta, Walker was 3-0 against the Golden Bears. Clark Atlanta defeated Miles College 104-80 last season in Fairfield, Ala. Walker is also 4-1 against Miles College

Coach Fred Watson, who was the head coach at the SIAC’s Benedict College before taking over at Miles this summer.

Miles College leads all 305 Division II schools in scoring defense, allowing 55.9 points per game in seven games. The Golden Bears rank 295th in scoring offense at 61.6 points per contest.

“They don’t give up a lot of points,” Walker said. “But they don’t score a lot of points, either.”

UALR’s turnovers need to be reduced, Walker said. Offensive rebounds must not to be allowed. A 40-minute defensive performance is a priority against Miles.

“The past few games have really been a learning experience of what a young team does,” Walker said. “They’ve been up and down.

“We have to find some consistency for 40 minutes, not 20 minutes. That’s been our biggest thing. You go back and look at games and it’s about being consistent for 40 minutes on the defensive side of the ball. We have not done that on a consistent basis.”

UALR committed 19 and a season-high 20 turnovers in its past two losses to the University of Central Arkansas (85-82) on Saturday and Bradley University (68-62) on Dec. 4, respectively. The Trojans had 10 turnovers in their 79-52 home victory against

Sam Houston State on Dec. 1.

The ideal figure is 12 turnovers or fewer in a game, Walker said. The Trojans are averaging 16.1 turnovers per game. They allowed 29 points off turnovers to UCA on Saturday.

“What I told my guys after the game,” Walker said, “which people don’t understand if they don’t know the game, if you turn the ball over 19 times and a team gets 30 points — and then you give up 16 offensive rebounds and that turns into [23] second-chance points — it’s going to be hard to win.”

Walker’s most pressing issue with his Trojans is consistency. UALR is allowing 41.5 second-half points this season, seven points more than its 34.0 first-half average.

The Trojans put together their most complete game of the season in their win Dec. 1 against Sam Houston State. They gave up 27 points in the second half and completed the full 40-minute defensive performance Walker requested by allowing 25 in the second half.

Against Miles College, the Trojans have a chance to right the ship.

“We respect every opponent that we play,” Walker said. “That’s how I’ve always been as a coach. You must respect everybody. Or else you’ll get a rude awakening.

“I’m more concerned about us just coming out and executing defensively for 40 minutes and taking care of the basketball.”

Walker