Derrick Walker steps up for Vols despite ankle injury

Tennessee forward Derrick Walker, left, and Ole Miss forward Justas Furmanavicius fight for control of the ball during Saturday's game in Oxford, Miss. Walker played 22 minutes and finished with seven rebounds and five points.
Tennessee forward Derrick Walker, left, and Ole Miss forward Justas Furmanavicius fight for control of the ball during Saturday's game in Oxford, Miss. Walker played 22 minutes and finished with seven rebounds and five points.

OXFORD, Miss. - The allotment of minutes in the playing rotation for the Tennessee men's basketball team continued to evolve Saturday in the No. 19 Volunteers' 73-65 win at Ole Miss, where freshman forward Derrick Walker played a key role on a tweaked ankle.

With sophomore forward Grant Williams slowed by foul trouble and redshirt freshman John Fulkerson out with a calf injury, Walker logged 22 minutes, pulling down seven rebounds and scoring five points.

"I thought Derrick Walker was really good today for a guy that hasn't practiced in two days," Vols coach Rick Barnes said.

Walker ran through agility drills with a strength coach at Friday's practice but barely participated in five-on-five drills after missing Wednesday's game against Florida because of the ankle injury. Even before missing that game, Walker had played just five minutes in each of his two previous outings.

"We weren't sure how much he'd be able to do, to be honest with you," Barnes said. "He did very little in practice. We knew (Fulkerson) wasn't going to be able to play today. So we were prepared to use Yves (Pons) at the four a little bit if we needed to."

Walker wore an ice pack on his ankle after the game and said it was "a little sore." Walker said he was not necessarily expecting the increase in playing time.

"You just have to roll with the punches sometimes," he said. "My name was called today. Even though I was hurt, I just had to play through it."

Barnes continued to tweak the allocation of minutes in Tennessee's backcourt, too, though not because of injuries. Jordan Bone, who had played fewer than 20 minutes in three straight games, played more than 30 for the second straight game. He scored six points and dished out eight assists, which was more than the Ole Miss team total of seven.

"It's just trust, really," Bone said. "He (Barnes) wants guys out there he knows are going to execute and defend and just compete the last four minutes of the game, as they're the most important."

The biggest change for the backcourt was graduate transfer point guard James Daniel playing a season-low six minutes.

Daniel, who entered Saturday averaging 21.8 minutes per game, is 5-of-29 from the floor in Tennessee's past eight games and struggling to meet Barnes' strict standards for point guards.

"What we need is what we've talked to him about all year, you know?" Barnes said. "We need him to understand the role he's got to play and what we need him to do. It's plain and simple."

Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.

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