Houston star J'Wan Roberts' injury status for NCAA Tournament still up in air
Yesterday at 02:42 PM
There are a lot of teams playing very well heading into the NCAA Tournament, but perhaps none of them are as hot as Houston basketball. The Cougars rolled through the Big 12 regular season, running away with the outright title with a 19-1 record, before winning three games in three days in Kansas City to collect the conference tournament title as well.
Beating Colorado, BYU and Arizona all in a row to bring home the trophy on Saturday night is impressive enough. However, Kelvin Sampson and company did it without star big man J’Wan Roberts, who is Houston’s emotional leader and is a standout on both ends of the floor.
Even though the Cougars had success without their senior leader in Kansas City, they will definitely want him back for the NCAA Tournament starting on either Thursday or Friday. However, Sampson says that Houston may not get its wish according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.
“Houston’s J’Wan Roberts (ankle) is receiving treatment and will be re-evaluated tomorrow in terms of his status for the Cougars’ first NCAA Tournament game this week, per Kelvin Sampson,” Rothstein reported on X, formerly Twitter.
Roberts is one of Houston’s most experienced players and is its leader, so it would be a big blow for it not to have him out there for any extended time during the tournament. However, his status is still very much up in the air, so there’s no reason for concern just yet.
From a skill standpoint, Roberts is crucial for Houston because he is the only big man on the roster that can create offense for himself. Houston has three very good guards on the offensive end in LJ Cryer, Milos Uzan and Emmanuel Sharp, but Joseph Tugler and Ja’Vier Francis are more defense and rebounding-oriented.
When things get tough in the half court, Houston can dump it down in to Roberts and he is usually able to get to his left hand and score. That could be a critical factor when some of these tournament games slow down in the final minutes, so Sampson and company will be eagerly awaiting the return of their star in the middle.
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