Houston’s Ultimate Warrior — J’Wan Roberts Powers Through a Hurting Knee as the Heart of Kelvin Sampson’s Defensive Juggernaut

J‘Wan Roberts would be a great pro wrestler or Rock’Em Sock’Em robot. The University of Houston basketball team’s indispensable power forward just keeps coming. No matter what you throw at him. Or how much he might be hurting. And Roberts is hurting. His right knee isn’t right. It hasn’t been right almost all season. And it’s not going to be right until he undergoes a procedure. But that’s for the offseason. Roberts couldn’t even imagine bailing on his guys before then.

That’s not in his makeup. So this Island Fierce inside force keeps showing up for the best defensive team in college basketball — maybe the best defensive team in college basketball in decades if you listen to Kansas State coach Jerome Tang and others who really know the game. Roberts keeps making winning plays for a now 18-2 (5-2 Big 12) Houston team that wouldn’t have that sparkling record without him.

Sure, he’ll get his knee drained now and then when the swelling becomes too much. But Roberts still is almost always there for the opening tip.

“You know, it’s bigger than me now,” Roberts says when I ask him about his knee injury. “I’m playing for my teammates now. So I just try and give it my all every night. Not try to think about it too much. And just play my heart out.”

Roberts has been doing that all season, playing in 19 of UH’s 20 games despite a knee that nags him more than a stereotypical 1950s sitcom housewife. Logging at least 22 minutes of court time in 14 of those games. Roberts is at it again in Houston’s 74-52 throttling of a dangerous Kansas State team on Saturday, putting up 14 points on 5 for 8 shooting, grabbing five of the Cougars’ 15 offensive rebounds, adding two assists and playing standout defense for 28 minutes.

The man from the beautiful beaches of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands plays a very workmanlike game, one rooted in doing whatever it takes to get it done. But Roberts punctuates this romp with a thunderous slam, unleashing a scream that pierces through the roars of another appreciative Fertitta Center crowd and sets the stage for the emotional Big Monday ESPN showdown with the University of Texas to come.

Houston wouldn’t be the fourth ranked team in the entire land heading to Austin to play a rather desperate (and many would say underachieving) 14-6 (3-4 Big 12) UT team without Roberts’ fight. And everyone involved in Kelvin Sampson’s elite program knows it.

“Anything we get from J’Wan,” UH assistant coach K.C. Beard tells PaperCity. “We know he’s battling. And some games he’s going to be really good. And some games he’s going to do what he did (against BYU). But he makes winning plays. That’s why he’s got to be on the floor at the end (of close games).

“Got to have him.”

Battered. A little beaten up. And still bullying other teams. That’s J’Wan.

While All-American point guard candidate Jamal Shead (17 points, three assists, two steals and a game-high plus 30 plus-minus rating against Kansas State) orchestrates all for this national championship contender, J’Wan Roberts is this Houston team’s heart in many ways. Even on one good knee. Maybe especially on one good knee in some ways. For Roberts’ teammates see what he is playing through for this team, the sacrifices he’s making to ensure a special season remains on track.

If that type of example isn’t going to get you going, what will?

This Houston team certainly doesn’t need much to get going against Kansas State. Roberts and friends jump out to an 11-0 and 13-2 leads before Kansas State even knows it’s under attack. It’s reminiscent of this UH team’s 18-0 start against Penn, it’s 25-7 start over Montana, it’s 16-4 start vs. Xavier and it’s 13-2 start vs. UCF. This Houston squad springs on teams like a cobra unleashed from the opening jump. Sampson’s defensive dominators tend to knock the wind out of opponents before they can even think of flying.

There is no easing into games against this Houston team. No simulating the fury that is coming your way. There are runaway freight trains that are less scary. And easier to get out of the way of.

“They may be the best defensive team I’ve ever seen,” Tang says after his team takes 38 minutes and 53 seconds to reach 50 points in a Big 12 game and commits 18 turnovers.

Tang knows great defensive teams. He served as the lead assistant on Baylor’s 2021 national championship team, the one that suffocated Houston defensively in the Final Four. Still Tang thinks this 2023-24 Houston defense may be even better.

“I think the way they switch on the perimeter and how they can contain the ball reminds me of the team that won it when I was at Baylor,” Kansas State’s coach says. “They have better — some guys might get mad at me — but they have better rim protection than we did. They’ve got multiple guys who are level two shot blockers.”

Houston’s Wingspan Warriors — Ja’Vier Francis, the 6-foot-8 starting center with the 7-foot-5 wingspan; JoJo Tugler, the 6-foot-7 marvel with the 7-foot-6 wingspan; and Roberts, the 6-foot-7 veteran with the 7-foot-3 wingspan — anchor the backline of this ferocious defense.

Roberts brings an offensive game too though. One that’s gotten better by the season. And sometimes seemingly by the game. The little hook shot across the lane and from both blocks that Roberts and UH assistant coach Kellen Sampson have been working on for four years now has turned into one of this still sometimes challenged Houston offense’s most reliable weapons now. Roberts is also a very underrated passer — especially on the interior.

“We know he’s battling. And some games he’s going to be really good. And some games he’s going to do what he did (against BYU). But he makes winning plays. That’s why he’s got to be on the floor at the end (of close games). Got to have him.” — UH assistant coach K.C. Beard on J’Wan Roberts

Kelvin Sampson’s team can go to Roberts inside when it needs a bucket. As it does late in that gut check of a win at BYU. And multiple times against Kansas State when the Cougars’ attack threatens to bog down a little. Sleep on J’Wan Roberts’ offensive game these days and he’ll put your chances of upsetting Houston to bed.

“Just a lot of reps,” Roberts tells PaperCity when I ask about the hook shot that helps make the nation’s fourth ranked team go. “Consistent reps. Repeatedly shooting the same shot. Seeing the ball go through, I’ve got confidence in what I’m doing.

“Just believing it. And believing in myself. That’s my go-to move and I’m still working on it every day and trying to be consistent.”

Even on a bothersome knee.

Battered. A little beaten up. And still bullying other teams. That’s J’Wan.

“You know, it’s bigger than me now. I’m playing for my teammates now. So I just try and give it my all every night. Not try to think about it too much. And just play my heart out.” — UH power forward J’Wan Roberts

J’Wan Roberts, The Houston Development

Kelvin Sampson didn’t recruit J’Wan Roberts for his offense. Sampson will tell you that Roberts, the kind of three star recruit that some power programs might overlook, didn’t have an offensive game when the UH coaching staff recruited him.

“But I loved the way he played,” Sampson says. “I thought he fit us perfectly. We recruit guys to fit us. Not you. Us. It’s really important. We have a culture here. We have a way of playing. J’Wan was about 6-6 — 7-2, 7-3 wingspan. Big heart. And a high basketball IQ.

“Those guys get better.”

Especially at Houston. Especially in Kelvin Sampson’s elite developmental program. J’Wan Roberts is playing the best — and most efficient — basketball of his life as a graduate senior. He’s on a special team, one with a real chance of doing something monumental. He’s not going to let a hurting right knee derail this ride. Especially with the injury more a matter of managing pain rather than risking doing more damage.

J’Wan Roberts will need to get his knee cleaned out after this season no matter what. But he’ll play on it first, deal with the swelling, the drains and somewhat limited practices, to be there for his guys when it counts. During games. When it’s winning time.

“It is what it is at this point,” Roberts says of the knee. “It’s not something to sit around and cry about. I’m in season.”

J’Wan Roberts is playing for something bigger than himself. Something bigger than even a Big 12 season, or a rare chance to get a shot at hoity-toity Texas in a game that no one can duck. He’s playing for his teammates.

“We all know how tough J’Wan is,” UH guard LJ Cryer tells PaperCity. “We all see it every day.”

Battered. A little beaten up. And still bullying other teams. That’s J’Wan.

And how well he can keep doing this may well determine the ultimate fate of one of college basketball’s best teams.