Derrick Walker Invited to Portsmouth Invitational

Nebraska senior forward Derrick Walker has been invited to participate in this week’s Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (P.I.T.).

The four-day event features 64 of the top seniors in the country, giving them an opportunity to perform in scouts from NBA teams and from overseas. Walker becomes the fifth Husker since 2016 to participate in this invitational-only event, joining Alonzo Verge Jr. (2022), James Palmer Jr. (2019), Tai Webster (2017) and Shavon Shields (2016).

Competition begins Wednesday night and live streaming for all of the action is available for a fee on the tournament website (portsmouthinvitational.com). Each team will play three games with the championship taking place on Saturday.  

This week’s P.I.T. continues a busy postseason for Walker, who played in the NABC Senior All-Star game during Final Four weekend.

Walker, a 6-foot-9 forward, earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2022-23, leading Nebraska in scoring (13.6 ppg), rebounding (7.1 rpg), assists (3.9 apg), blocked shots (0.7 bpg) and field goal percentage (.584) in helping the Huskers to a 16-16 record. He became the first Husker to lead NU in scoring, rebounding and assists in a season, while he was one of two power conference players (also Penn State’s Jalen Pickett) to top his team in all three categories in 2022-23. He totaled three double-doubles as a senior and five 20-point games, including a career-high 23 points against Maryland and 22 in a win at Creighton.

Walker finished his three-year Husker career averaging 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in 75 games, all starts, while his career .620 field goal percentage ranked second on the Huskers’ career list. He finished his collegiate career with 885 points and 569 rebounds, including his two-year tenure at Tennessee (2017-19).