In the past two weeks, his eyes have drooped and his sentences have faded off under his breath while mumbling few word answers during interviews. Heading into Tuesday night’s game, Erving Walker seemed to have lost the energy that had become synonymous with his style of play and perhaps he lost a little bit of his swagger.
Although he tried to keep a good face through a seven-game shooting ordeal that saw him go 7-33 on three-pointers, Walker was tired and not just because he’s been playing an average of 33 minutes a game. He’s taken a beating, too, whether defending players often five to eight inches taller and 50 pounds heavier or whenever he ventures in among the tall timbers in the lane.
It’s no wonder why Coach Billy Donovan told Erving Walker this would be the toughest season of his life as he has to balance more playing time with leading his team from the point guard position.
Donovan has reiterated time and again that it’s all a process for his sophomore guard, and that he was learning how to cope and persevere. It might be safe to say that on Tuesday night at least, Erving Walker figured it out.
Walker was already playing one of his better offensive games in recent weeks when he went off the charts with 5:34 remaining in the game and the Gators leading Tennessee, 58-47. It started with a three in transition after a Dan Werner rebound that sent the Stephen C. O’Connell Center crowd into a frenzy. His second came from the other side of the floor on a fast break after a Parsons rebound. Two in a row. That hadn’t happened in awhile.
When he got another opportunity about a minute later on another fast break Walker didn’t hesitate.
“I hit two so I figured I had another open look, why not?” Walker said after the Gators’ 75-62 win over the Vols.
Even though he had a clear path to the basket, he chose instead to unleash that third three, and before the ball finished its descent through the net the home crowd erupted into mayhem. In a matter of two minutes and three possessions, Erving Walker had gotten his swagger back.
“It was good to see Erving knock down some threes, get out on the break and get some good looks,” Donovan said. “I think he had that fire back in his eye a little bit and really opened up the game for us.”
Walker’s threes, along with another trey on the following possession by Chandler Parsons, expanded the lead to 20 points and blew the game wide open for the Gators. They haven’t been blowing up the net and stepping on opponent’s throats late in games.
Walker’s struggles can be traced all the way back to the first time he Tennessee in Knoxville back on January 31 when he scored only nine points and hit only 1-6 on three-pointers after hitting 23 of his previous 37. Although the shooting continued to tail off after that first Tennessee game, his value to the Gators couldn’t be measured. He logged the minutes, handled the ball, set up teammates and played very good defense.
Defense might be one of the reasons Walker re-discovered his shot. He’s spent so much time and focus on playing good defense that he hasn’t had a chance to worry about his shot not falling.
“We’ve been focusing on defense,” Walker said. “Coach told us not to worry about offense and have a short memory on your shots so that’s what I was doing. I was going to keep shooting when I got open looks and make sure to not take any bad ones and focus on the little things.”
Walker has excelled in those little things during this recent cold spell. Although he hasn’t hit many shots from the field, he has been outstanding at the foul line, hitting 30-34 (88 percent) in his last four games. Against Tennessee Tuesday night, not only did the shots drop, but Walker was in command of his team. He handled the ball against Tennessee’s pressure, gave it up for three assists and committed just one turnover, all while playing lock down defense on Melvin Goins and Bobby Maze.
“Give [Walker] and (Kenny) Boynton a lot of credit,” Donovan said. “Those guys are playing an enormous amount of minutes, they’re having to defend, they’re having to do so much, and those guys lay it on the floor every night for us.”
All of those ancillary things are what allowed Walker to play on without worrying about his shooting. The free throws and the pressure defense, if he excelled at those then who cared about how many threes he was making? He plans to keep that same mindset going forward, saying his swagger stems from the team’s success and not his stat line.
“That’s always a good feeling,” Walker said of watching his shots fall. “But like I’ve said over and over again that’s not our focus. We are just trying to do the little things, get loose balls, make good hustle plays and get defensive stops. Then, hopefully, our offense will take care of itself.”