Walton focused on a few more big wins with Buffs
24th-ranked CU set to host Arizona State in regular season finale
Few players have experienced the career arc quite like the one traveled by Dallas Walton.
The roller coaster ride endured by the 7-footer from Ar vada has been well-documented. After two ACL surgeries on his left knee, Walton took a redshirt season as a true freshman in 2016-17. He emerged as a promising low-post force a year later, but then suffered a torn ACL in his right knee that cost Walton the 201819 season.
After battling back into the rotation via a sort of live-action redshirt season last year as he regained strength in his legs, Walton has, at long last, returned to the form that offered so much promise three years ago. Even Walton isn’t quite sure if this is his final run with CU, but just in case he is cer tain to savor the final home game of the season on Thursday night as the 24thranked Buf fs host Arizona State.
“I knew what I was capable of and I knew could contribute on this team and get some Ws,” Walton said. “Being able to do that and produce in a variety of different ways has been ver y special to me. It’s been a long journey over
the past five years I’ve been here, and even before I got here too, just to get to the level that I’m at right now. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s a ver y special season.”
Despite missing six midseason games due to injur y and illness, it has been a season of redemption for Walton. He struggled to regain his pre-acl form in 28 games off the bench last season, but Walton has been a dependable presence in the middle of the Buffs’ attack this year. Although he takes a slight shooting slump into Thursday’s game (4-for-17 in the past four games), Walton still is shooting .558 overall with a 7-for-15 mark on his occasional attempts from 3-point range.
One dynamic Walton has brought to the floor that was absent even during his solid 2017-18 redshirt freshman season has been Walton’s ability to get to the free throw line. Walton is averaging 2.9 fewer minutes per game this season than during his 30-game 2017-18 season, yet the 7-footer already has topped his total of free throw
attempts from that season by 12. His 42-for-49 mark (.857) has played a par t in the Buf fs’ Ncaa-best .831
free throw percentage.
“It was a lot of work between my redshirt freshman year and now, just working on my post moves and finishing around the rim,” Walton said. “That’s something I don’t think I was really too good at my redshirt freshman year. But it’s something I really put into focus after the year I had last year. Either I score or get fouled and help the team.”
Given that his redshirt season was taken in part to get stronger after his injuries at Ar vada West, and then he missed the 2018-19 season to injur y, Walton previously indicated he planned to petition for a sixth season of eligibility. With that process no longer necessar y after the NCAA granted eligibility relief for the 2020-21 season, Walton isn’t yet ready to address anything beyond what is immediately ahead of him — the Arizona State home finale, the Pac-12 tournament, and a likely date in the NCAA Tournament.
“I have no idea where I’m at with that right now,” Walton said. “I’m just kind of finishing out the season, and right now that’s all I can think about — just finishing out the season on a strong note.”