This time last year, Zach McRoberts was sitting in the stands watching Indiana basketball.
Now he’s carved himself out a role on the team.
McRoberts, who walked on as a sophomore after a year away from the game, has proven to be far from novelty eight games into his Hoosier career. IU head coach Tom Crean has trusted him in key situations for No. 9 Indiana (7-1) and is expected to continue to do so when IU plays Houston Baptist (3-4) at 4 p.m. Saturday.
“I think he’s getting more used to it all the time,” Crean said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. I don’t know if I’d go with comfortable as much as confident. He’s gaining confidence all the time, and he’s earning it.”
McRoberts, a native of Carmel, Indiana, is averaging a little shy of 11 minutes per game while still developing his niche on the floor. It’s still early, but he’s playing more minutes than three scholarship players in his first season.
McRoberts has only taken seven shots and has scored just six points but continues to rebound when he’s on the floor and do the seldom-celebrated things a team needs to win a game like boxing out and being in the right spot to move the ball. As far as expectations go, the 6-foot-6 wing said he’s enjoyed the opportunity in front of him.
“I kind of just came into it wanting to be a part of the team again,” he said. “I saw them play when I was just here as a student. It was a special year that I got to watch, and then it’s been a good experience this past year being on the team.”
Crean said he knew when senior wing Collin Hartman went down in training camp with a long-term knee injury he’d need McRoberts to step up. He did.
And with sophomore forward OG Anunoby still recovering from an ankle injury, McRoberts only continues to plug into whatever spot Crean needs him. At this point, there’s no reason for McRoberts to think he doesn’t belong on the floor.
“Zach brings so much, just doing the dirty work,” sophomore center Thomas Bryant said of his teammate. “A guy like that, I cherish. He’s all in for the team.”
Sidelined in practice, Hartman has been in charge of giving his teammates tips and advice as he tries to stay engaged for a future return to the team. He said on IU basketball's weekly radio show this week that McRoberts in particular has been one player who's left him impressed time after time.
"Everybody's picked up their games from last year, it's really impressive, but the one person that's really impressed me personally is Zach McRoberts," Hartman said. "Diving on the floor for loose balls, having energy, facilitating the offense by moving the ball. I think he's done a great job."
Teammates like Bryant and Hartman have been there to speed up the process of McRoberts acclimating himself to the college game. The former Indiana All-Star averaged a little more than 14 points and seven rebounds as a senior at Carmel but wouldn’t be playing against the same types of players in the same types of games in Bloomington.
There was an adjustment period, but McRoberts seems to have caught up.
“It’s been good having coaches, having teammates help me adjust back to playing again,” he said.
And don’t expect that to change. Because as long as McRoberts trusts himself, Crean will trust McRoberts.
