NATURALLY STATED: Don't think Darrell Walker is all defensive

University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball coach Darrell Walker.
University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball coach Darrell Walker.

Natural light cascaded down the staircase seating, where alumni, professors and administrators set down their glasses of wine and cans of beer to applaud the man at the base of the steps.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock threw a reception Thursday evening to introduce its new head men's basketball coach Darrell Walker and his wife, Lisa, at the Windgate Center of Art + Design.

Walker stood behind the podium, wearing a light gray and blue checkered suit, and ducked his head toward the microphone.

"I know I'm known for defense," said Walker, 57, a former All-American guard at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. "Yeah, I played for Eddie Sutton. Defense. Defense. Defense. But at the end of the day, you have to score."

It was a sentiment Walker expressed during practice the day before, a block away at the Jack Stephens Center practice gym.

He was directing the Trojans in a four-on-four defensive drill that worked on help defense and three-point responsibility -- something that terrorized UALR last season, when it ranked 10th in the Sun Belt Conference in three-point defense (35.3 percent).

"I know, I'm a defensive guy; but stops over here will help you take it that way," he said, emphatically pointing toward the opposite goal.

The Trojans scored a conference-low 63.7 points per game in its 7-25 season last year, which ranked 340th out of the NCAA's 351 Division I teams.

Two of the team's best players sat the bench during the year -- junior guards Deondre Burns (MCL injury) and Rayjon Tucker (NCAA transfer rules) -- and they're part of UALR's roster that includes just nine players as of now.

Teams are permitted a maximum of 13 scholarships.

A man at Thursday's reception pointed that out to Walker during the question and answer portion of Thursday evening, and Walker replied "I plan on giving you a scholarship, if you want it."

Laughter stirred in the room, and Walker reassured the man that more players were coming.

But watching Burns hit shots and Tucker leap rib-high with the rim multiple times during Wednesday's practice, Walker certainly has pieces to build around.

Successful debut

There was no check, just the blip of a direct deposit.

Blip

$10,000

And just like that, Jordan Richard had earned the winnings from her first tour victory in the Professional Women's Bowling Association.

Richard, 22, joined the tour in May after graduating from Arkansas State University, where she won consecutive NCAA Division I Player of the Year awards and was a three-time All-American.

Almost 40 years ago, Richard's grandfather opened Ten Pin Alley in her hometown, Tecumseh, Mich. The bowling alley was then handed down to Richard's parents.

Richard, her twin sister Haley, and their older sister Kara, all grew up in the bowling alley and eventually earned college scholarships.

Richard and Haley both started at Central Missouri and transferred to ASU.

Only Richard went pro.

She won the Greater Harrisburg Open on June 16, beating a field of bowlers that included her childhood hero, Kelly Kulick.

"It was kind of weird, because all the girls I'm bowling against were girls I've looked up to my whole life," said Richard, who will compete in the U.S. Women's Open this week in Orlando. "It was a, 'Do I really belong here type of thing.' "

Ten thousand dollars says she does.

Going back to Cali

Jordan Howard captured the national spotlight in California, and he's going back to capture a roster spot in the NBA.

Remember that November night at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles when Howard rained down eight three-pointers and scored 35 points in one of college basketball's most holy sanctuaries?

UCLA barely escaped the University of Central Arkansas, 106-101 in overtime, but Howard won the night.

The performance led Sports Illustrated to refer to Howard as the "Steph Curry of the Southland Conference."

On Friday, Howard said he will be playing in the Summer League with Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors.

That's where the comparisons end between Howard and the three-time NBA MVP.

Although Curry struggled to fill out his jersey at Davidson, he never was an underdog: The 6-3 guard was a two-time All-Amercan, and the Warriors drafted him No. 7 overall in the 2009 draft (was it really that long ago?).

Howard is a 5-11 undrafted Southland Conference Player of the Year.

His climb to the NBA is much steeper: earn one of the Warriors' 15 roster spots by summer's end, or sign a two-way contract and split time with the Dubs and their developmental team, the Santa Cruz Warriors, in the NBA G League.

The Warriors only have 10 players under active contracts, and on Friday, the organization waived two-way contract player Chris Boucher. So, Golden State now has the maximum two, two-way contracts it can award.

If neither of those pan out for Howard, he'd have to join a G League team and try and earn a call-up.

But there's just one more comparison to Curry that may favor Howard, although it's intangible: Howard made it feel like anything was possible on any night.

Like on Jan. 25, when he made his first five threes, scored a career-high 43 points and helped UCA beat Stephen F. Austin for the first time in school history.

Why would the NBA be any less possible?

Stadium memories

The dump trucks chugged through the rain and down the ramp Wednesday into Golden Lion Stadium, where the dirt from the 18-year-old field was piled up like a sand dune, waiting to be taken away.

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is replacing that soil with new artificial turf by the Sept. 1 opener against Morehouse College. There'll be a new scoreboard, too. So until then, let's take a look at some of those old scores.

The grand opening's the place to start, although it started out about just as bad as it could.

It was Oct. 21, 2000, against NCAA Division II opponent Kentucky State, seven games into what was then a 3-3 season for the Golden Lions under eighth-year head coach Lee Hardman.

The very first play?

Kentucky State returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.

That score made the difference in the Golden Lions' 34-30 loss.

It also spoiled the efforts of junior running back Dwight McKissic, who was 4 yards shy of the UAPB school record with 34 carries, 288 yards and 4 touchdowns.

McKissic, a transfer from the University of Oklahoma, helped UAPB win its first game at Golden Lion Stadium the following week against Jackson State by rushing for 139 yards, with a 71-yard touchdown run, in the 48-41 victory.

The Golden Lions finished the 2000 season 6-5 -- 4-3 in SWAC play -- and McKissic (1,171 yards) and Ron Johnson (1,042) became the first duo to both rush for 1,000 yards in UAPB history.

Sports on 06/24/2018

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