The Sun Belt Conference does not intend to discipline University of Arkansas at Little Rock Coach Darrell Walker for his reaction to a controversial final play in Saturday’s 84-83 loss to Arkansas State University, one Sun Belt league official confirmed Monday.
"We have been in contact with the conference office and will handle accordingly," UALR Athletic Director Chasse Conque told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a statement Monday. "Saturday’s game was a hard fought and emotional contest. That is certainly no excuse for coach’s postgame reaction.
"Chancellor [Andrew Rogerson] and I have both visited with Coach Walker about the situation and made clear our expectation moving forward. We are looking forward to a productive week with two key conference games in Alabama this weekend."
UALR sophomore guard Jaizec Lottie misfired a potential game-winning jump shot as Saturday's final buzzer rang.
Lottie’s attempt, which was shot directly in front of Walker and UALR’s bench at the Jack Stephens Center, came up feet short of the rim. No foul was called.
Believing Lottie was "slapped on his arm," Walker charged onto the floor to aggressively argue the no-call to the official closest to Lottie during the attempt.
“You know what I thought about that last possession,” Walker said afterward. “I just watched the film. I’m not going to get into all that, obviously, that ball came up very short and I’ll leave it at that. Obviously, he hit the kid on his arm or I never would’ve reacted like that.”
Lottie was guarded by ASU senior guard Ty Cockfield on the final possession. Cockfield said he did not believe there was a foul.
“I can’t say that," Cockfield said. "I played defense. We did what we had to do to win the game.”
UALR (7-15, 2-7 Sun Belt) will travel to Troy University for a 6 p.m. tipoff Thursday at Trojan Arena in Troy, Ala.