Darrell Walker and Patrick Ewing may have dinner together tonight.
"After, hopefully, I beat his butt," said Walker, who in 1985-86 was a New York Knicks teammate to Ewing, Georgetown's coach and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock wraps up its nonconference schedule against Georgetown at 11 a.m. in Capital One Arena in Washington where Walker and Ewing will meet as head coaching adversaries for the first time.
Ewing started 50 games for the Knicks in 1985-86 and averaged 20.0 points per game on his way to being named the NBA's Rookie of the Year. In his third NBA season, Walker started 35 games and averaged 10.3 points beside Ewing with the Knicks.
Early into their tenures at UALR (5-7) and Georgetown (8-3), Walker and Ewing, the second-year Hoyas' coach, have inexperienced rosters with plenty of progress to be made -- which the two friends relate often in text messages to each other.
"We're both talking about how young our teams are and how it's tough for them to figure out how to finish games and win games," Walker said. "He has pretty much a young team, too, starting two freshmen in his backcourt. So it's a process that he's going through, too.
"He's having a good time, just like I'm having a good time."
The Trojans' journey through the first 12 games under Walker has had its highs and lows. Consecutive losses to the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 4 and to the University of Central Arkansas four days later showed UALR has room to grow.
A 79-52 home victory Nov. 1 over Sam Houston State proved the Trojans can put together an all-around performance on both ends of the floor. UALR's 99-89 loss Wednesday at Memphis fueled more optimism for Walker.
"No doubt about it, "Walker said. "We had a chance to win once again."
The issues plaguing the Trojans early in the season -- free throws, rebounding and self-destructive second halves -- reappeared at Memphis.
UALR went 18 of 34 from the free-throw line and allowed 18 offensive rebounds to Memphis, which scored 51 points in the second half.
The Trojans are shooting 60.3 percent from the free-throw line, the 346th-worst out of 351 NCAA Division I teams. UALR has allowed 40-plus points in the second half eight times this season and has given up 10 or more offensive rebounds in eight of 12 games.
"It's been fun. It's been an up and down 12 games, which I thought it would be," Walker said. "We've had moments of really being a solid basketball team. And we've showed moments of we don't know how to play. I knew it was going to be that way, but I do see some progress. I thought the Memphis game was really good."
The Trojans, who were selected in the preseason to finish last in the Sun Belt Conference, will begin league play Jan. 3 at Louisiana-Monroe.
Today’s men’s college basketball
UALR AT GEORGETOWN
WHEN 11 a.m. Central
WHERE Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
RECORDS UALR 5-7, Georgetown 8-3
UALR men (5-7)
DATE OPPONENT TIME/RESULT
Nov. 8 SE Okla. St. W, 101-92 (OT)
Nov. 13 at Tennessee State W, 83-67
Nov. 16 at Nevada# L, 87-59
Nov. 19 at Tulsa# L, 88-78
Nov. 23 Howard# W, 97-76
Nov. 24 UAPB# L, 75-66
Nov. 28 at Central Arkansas L, 78-65
Dec. 1 Sam Houston State W, 79-52
Dec. 4 Bradley L, 68-62
Dec. 8 Central Arkansas L, 85-82
Dec. 11 Miles College W, 67-47
Dec. 19 at Memphis L, 99-89
TODAY at Georgetown 11 a.m.
Jan. 3 at La.-Monroe* 7 p.m.
Jan. 5 at La.-Lafayette* 7 p.m.
Jan. 10 Troy* 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 12 South Alabama* 3 p.m.
Jan. 17 at Texas State* 7 p.m.
Jan. 19 at Texas-Arlington* 2 p.m.
Jan. 24 Coastal Carolina* 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 26 Appalachian State* 3 p.m.
Feb. 2 Arkansas State* 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 7 at Troy* 6 p.m.
Feb. 9 at South Alabama* 3:05 p.m.
Feb. 14 Texas-Arlington* 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 16 Texas State* 3 p.m.
Feb. 23 at Arkansas State* 7 p.m.
Feb. 28 at Georgia Southern* 6 p.m.
Mar. 2 at Georgia State* noon
Mar. 7 La.-Lafayette* 6:30 p.m.
Mar. 9 La.-Monroe* 3 p.m.
Mar. 11-16 at SBC Tournament
New Orleans
*Sun Belt game
#Las Vegas Holiday Classic game
Sports on 12/22/2018