Sparta shooting guard Kavan Walker is hardly complaining, but admits he can sometimes find himself too wide open.
The attention big men Jacob Lafferty and Dexter Loveland receive from the Trojans’ opponents in the paint has resulted in Walker seemingly being all alone on an island from 3-point land.
“It kind of messes with you a little bit,” Walker said. “Sometimes, you want them to close out on you, like, ‘Hey, you need to close out on me I’m a shooter.’”
Walker indeed has served as a very capable complement to Lafferty and Loveland by giving Sparta (4-1) a perimeter presence. The Trojans’ well-balanced offense is averaging 68.8 points a game entering their home contest with Ash Grove on Tuesday (5-0).
Walker had four 3-pointers last week against Norwood to up his season treys total to 12.
“I’m shooting for 100 this year,” he said. (88) more to go.”
All this after he debuted by going 1-on-9 on his 3-pointers at Conway. Not deterred, he knows to keep shooting.
"Even if you miss one, you’ve got to be thinking the next one is in, that’s a shooter’s mentality,” Walker said.
Walker made a team-high 81 3-pointers last season while shooting a team-best 45 percent beyond the arc (81-of-179). He had four 3-pointer and 13 points in Sparta’s loss to Strafford in the Class 3 District 11 game and had 10 treys overall during Districts.
Walker was named to the All-SWCL Second Team.
“I feel like toward the second half of last year is when I started to find my rhythm and heat up,” he said.
Walker wants to get hotter sooner and stay hot this season.
“I’d like to get (my 3-point percentage) up there a little higher — good shot selection keeps your shot percentage up high,” he said. “Improvement is what you’re always shooting for.”
