AP: Mo Walker proved fortitude with weight loss, but tenacity remains a challenge

per the AP:

Mo Walker has plenty of discipline. He dropped about 60 pounds after Richard Pitino was hired to make sure he could keep up with Minnesota coach's faster style.

The 6-foot-10 center's biggest challenge these days revolves around mental toughness. This is more of a tenacity issue, a guy with a low-key personality trying to maintain a consistent amount of grit required to be a productive defender and rebounder in the Big Ten.

The low-post scoring ability, featuring a feathery-soft hook shot, has already been proven. For this late-blooming senior, though, the attacking attitude must be renewed every game.

"Mo understands what it takes to compete at this level, so I say to him all the time, 'Why do we need to go down that road of yelling at you? We don't. You know you've got to play tough,'" Pitino said. "So sometimes it's lighting a fire under him a little bit, and other times he just needs to get punched first to react a little bit. So we need that from him."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/289976871.html

Go Gophers!!

FSN: Gophers' Walker finding his on-court mean streak

Richard Pitino warned his Minnesota team that last Saturday's game against Illinois -- and every Big Ten contest, for that matter -- was going to be physical. He also took senior Mo Walker aside at halftime and told the Gophers big man to rebound better.

Walker took both messages to heart. Not only did he finish the game with a career-high 13 rebounds in Minnesota's victory, but he also added another stat total: four stitches above his left eye after getting hit in the second half. It's a hazard that comes with the territory of being a big man in the Big Ten.

"He said it was going to be a war before the game," Walker said of Pitino's message Saturday. "If we're all not putting our bodies on the line and putting ourselves on the line in this one, then we really didn't want it that badly. I ended up getting some stitches. I guess he was right."

http://www.foxsports.com/north/stor...alker-finding-his-on-court-mean-streak-012715

Go Gophers!!