KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The plastic jewelry on J’Wan Roberts left wrist tells a story. The beads arranged to spell “Beast Mode” resemble those Taylor Swift friendship bracelets.
The adornment was a gift a couple of years ago from Autumn Shedd, sister of former teammate Jamal Shedd. Whatever mode Roberts, Houston’s bulky sixth-year forward, is in these days, it certainly isn’t beast. And the most prominent piece of plastic is actually attached to his leg, protecting a sprained right ankle.
“It was fun, actually,” Roberts said of sitting out watching his teammates defeat BYU 74-54 in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals Friday night. “Me not playing, I try to coach them up a lot too.”
Fun, for now. Roberts is the latest key Houston piece to go down with an injury that has impacted the NCAA Tournament the last three years. The Cougars don’t want Roberts’ injury to make it four years in a row.
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X-rays on Roberts’ ankle injured Thursday in a quarterfinal win vs. Colorado were negative. After initially talking bravely about playing Friday night, Roberts wisely sat. There was nothing to be gained playing in, basically, a nothing game. He is almost certain to sit out Saturday’s Big 12 championship game and be ready for the NCAA Tournament next week.
The Cougars certainly don’t need him at this point. Friday’s win proved that. It was a game Houston did not even need to play. Houston has won back-to-back Big 12 regular-season titles going a combined 38-5 since joining the league. Dominance has been proved. Before Friday, it was already likely a lock to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament second straight year.
But soon – very soon – it will matter.
Roberts’ availability for the rest of this month and beyond is the program’s main talking point. He sprained the ankle by stepping on another player’s foot resulting in one of the game’s most common injuries.
“Very common,” Houston trainer John Houston said after the game. “Same thing that happened to the kid at Duke. J’Wan didn’t [hurt it] as bad.”
That “kid at Duke” is national player of the year candidate Cooper Flagg, whose availability is a question that will resound through the bracket starting next week.
Houston knows the feeling.
- In 2022, a year after Marcus Sasser helped lead the program to its first Final Four in 37 years, he and teammate Tramon Mark missed most of the season with injuries. With a chance to go back to the Final Four, the Cougars lost in the Elite Eight to Villanova.
- In 2023, Sasser hurt his groin in the American Conference Tournament. The Cougars lost in the Sweet 16.
- Last season, Shedd, the Big 12 Player of the Year, famously suffered an ankle injury in a Sweet 16 loss to Duke.
“That one was heart-breaking mostly because of his emotions,” Houston said. “We really felt like we could have pulled that game off … We brought him to the [lockerroom], [the ankle] just kept getting bigger and bigger and then his emotions then started pouring out. He could kind of see he wasn’t going to get back in. He kind of felt like it was the finish line for him.”
No one, especially Beast Mode, wants to hear that story again.
This might be the best team of the Kelvin Sampson era. Houston’s defense is legendary. The Cougars once again lead the country in points allowed per game. But they are also more balanced offensively with Baylor transfer L.J. Cryer and Oklahoma transfer Milos Uzan. Veteran Emanuel Sharp went for a season-high 26 against BYU.
“Going into the game we try not to think about offense,” Roberts countered. “We think about defense. It looks crazy like there are six defenders out there.”
As for the injuries, well, they happen.
“We play hard, a lot of injuries come with that,” Roberts said.
Judge for yourself Roberts’ impact: The 6-foot-8 forward, 235-pound forward has played in 167 career games. No Cougar in history has won more games (144). He is the team’s fourth-leading scorer, top rebounder and No. 3 shot blocker.
Beast Mode indeed.
It’s a question no one around the program even wants asked: Can the Cougars make another run without Roberts?
“I feel like these games are March Madness games,” Roberts said in front of his locker after the game. “The environment. There are great teams. They’re going to be in the tournament too. These games prepare us for next week. It’s always good to win. We never want to take a step back or play down to our competition.”
Kelvin Sampson also doesn’t want to tempt fate. There is plenty of bad ju-ju in Houston’s immediate past this time of year. There might as well be a collective wince from the program every time someone goes down.
Houston woke up Friday wondering what he called Roberts’ “bad sprain” was going to look like.
“It wasn’t huge,” he said.
But it was, well, huge in the big picture.
Houston has been that close to getting back to the Final Four again, and yet so far away. The reminder was wearing plastic on both his wrist and his leg.
“You only got one shot at this. I feel like we’re in a great position,” Roberts said.
There’s only one position Houston wants to be in, that is resting.
“You certainly don’t want to work unless you have to …,” he said. “You just get used to something …that something is going to happen. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”
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