In the last four games Colorado has played, or in other words the last 11 days, Colorado junior forward/center Dallas Walton has scored more points and secured more rebounds than he did in CU's first 18 games to begin the 2019-2020 season.

Walton's recovery from an ACL tear, which he suffered in Oct. of 2018, sidelining him for the entirely of the 2018-19 season, has been well-documented.

This year, things got off slow for him, as he failed to score above four points in any of Colorado's games leading up to a Jan. 23 home game against Washington State. The main culprit of that was a lack of playing time.

Even now, after a surging past couple of weeks, he's on the season averaging just 1.8 minutes per game. But as time continues to go on, Walton increasingly is re-earning the trust and confidence of his teammates and coaches, as well as trust and confidence in himself.

"I always envisioned Dallas playing his best basketball around this time anyway," Buffs assistant coach Anthony Coleman said. "Now, he’s trusting his instincts, not thinking and just playing. He’s having great base, great confidence and he’s going to continue to get better and better in returning to his old from prior to the injury.”

Tad Boyle, who only weeks ago commented that Walton's lack of "lateral movement" was keeping him from seeing extended minutes, has seen him begin to return to his redshirt freshman form.

“I think the Washington game at home (on Jan. 25), when I saw him dive on the floor for a loose ball — that for me was a watershed moment for him and his comeback," Boyle said. "He trusted his body enough to put it at risk during a big time play in a big time moment. Those are the things you see him coming around with. You see him scoring the ball; he’s a weapon on the low block that we’ve got and have to continue to use. Dallas is coming around.”

Walton in that UW game played 13 minutes. He saw 12 minutes of action against WSU and most recently vs. Southern California, he was on the court for eight minutes.Those three games saw him post 19 points and nine rebounds.

Against Washington State on Jan. 23, he had seven points and four boards, while in CU's next game, vs. UW on Jan. 25, he scored seven again and secured two rebounds.

In the Buffaloes' previous 19 games this year, he managed 15 points and 13 rebounds in total.

While showing up on the stat and scoring the ball certainly has come as welcomed happenings, where Walton needed to and has taken steps in the right direction is on defense.

“As a veteran on this team, I know where I’m supposed to be, but sometimes early on, I would want to be in a certain spot but I wasn’t able to move quick enough to get into a spot," Walton said. "Now that I’m getting more strength in my legs and confidence in my legs, I’m finding myself in those spots that I want to be a lot quicker. I’m getting my defensive touch back. Before I went out (with injury) I was able to get in a lot of positions to block shots for this team and that’s what I’m trying to return to.”

Coleman has seen Walton progress in fast break defensive situations as well as regaining an ability to plug gaps and defend guards driving to the hoop — all aspects of his game he's worked to regain following the ACL injury.

“I think for him, he’s understanding the gaps, having his arm length out and being able to slide into ball screen coverages," Coleman said. "Before, he would try to rush out, get too close and get a foul, or he'd be too far off when (players) would go downhill on him. He was in a reactive stance and a disadvantage."

"When you have a fast guard going downhill at a Power 5 level, your first reaction to put your hands out, and that's going to be a foul. Now, he’s figuring out the balance of where he needs to be, in how to gauge shots, drives and understand the angles that he needs to move his feet.”

Seeing his minutes spike, being the recipient of a pass from a teammate, and just continuing to grind out his recovering from injury — all of these collective things are helping to build up Walton's confidence in himself.

“It’s still progressing," he said. "Every day, coming back from an ACL injury, regaining that trust can be hard at times. But I think as of recently and with the help and belief of my coaches and teammates, it’s been a lot easier. When I’m making moves and they’re encouraging me, it feels good having that encouragement and knowing (there’s) a belief system behind me.”

Colorado next returns to action this Thursday night on Feb. 6, when the Buffaloes host Cal at 6 p.m. MST.