Dantley Walker: A rising star for the Silverswords

Dantley Walker is a Mormon and a former UNLV Running Rebels basketball player who is new to the Chaminade Silversword team this year. His path to Chaminade is from Las Vegas where he spent two seasons with the Rebels playing 11 games with an average of 2.4 points per game making 8-20 from 3-point range.

Standing just under 6 feet tall, Walker is the all-time leader in Nevada history in career points with 3,304, assists (887), and 3-pointers (475). He also had a 73-point game, another record in the state of Nevada. In his sophomore year he helped his team win the class 2A state championship in 2008. He was also named first team all-state four times and was named the Division 2A Most Valuable Player in his junior and senior seasons.

At the Maui Invitational, Walker got a taste of home when he played against the Running Rebels. Although he did not score any points, he accumulated three assists against his former teammates.

The head coach of UNLV who recruited Walker, Lon Kruger, offered him a scholarship to play for the Rebels, which he accepted. After serving on an LDS mission for two years, Kruger departed the school and Dave Rice honored Kruger’s commitment to Walker.

“(The mission) gave me a different perspective on life,” Walker said. “I went out and it made me a lot more appreciative of basketball, kind of fueled my love of the game more. I didn’t play for two years and so I came back ready to ball out and play.”

At UNLV, Walker was not getting a lot of playing time averaging 5.8 minutes per game and with the NCAA transfer rule he could be eligible to play immediately at Chaminade because it is a Division II school.

“I went for a visit and fell in love with Hawaii, like everyone does,” said Walker in an interview with Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Reviw-Journal. “On the flight back to Las Vegas, I couldn’t stop smiling. I’m very happy.”

Walker attributes his best quality in basketball to 3-point shooting and hopes to play as best as he can and help the team win. A goal that he wants to see the team accomplish this season is to win the conference championship. The last time the Swords won the title was in 2014.

Being at a school with less than 2,000 people compared to UNLV with 30,000 Walker. During his time with the Rebels, Walker played his games at the Thomas and Mack center, which has a 17,000-seat capacity. With no professional teams in Nevada, UNLV is the team that Las Vegas follows. Meanwhile the biggest crowd at McCabe Gym this season was well short of 200.

“(Playing for UNLV) was sweet,” Walker said. “I had a lot of great memories being able to play, we played some great teams, played in some really cool places. It was pretty special, I loved it.”

So far this season, Walker has played in all six games. He has 20 points, seven assists, and is 6-13 from 3-point range.