J'Wan Roberts exits Big 12 semi-final with apparent leg injury

Less than three minutes into Houston’s matchup against Texas Tech in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals on Friday, Cougars forward J’Wan Roberts went down with a leg injury. Roberts had to be helped off the court and went to the locker room shortly after reaching the bench.

Roberts recorded two rebounds and a steal before leaving the game. The 6-foot-7 senior is averaging 9.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this season while shooting an efficient 58.3% from the field. The broadcast reported Roberts’ injury was a shin contusion. He returned to the game halfway through the first half.

Houston didn’t necessarily need J’Wan Robert’s help. The Cougars began the game on a 21-5 run against Texas Tech. Blowouts are nothing new for head coach Kelvin Sampson and Co. Houston entered its Friday contest with a 29-3 record.

Houston and others expected to stick in the Big 12

Further, the team boasted the Big 12 regular season title in its first season in the conference. On3’s Andy Staples believes Houston will have no shortage of opportunities to defeat the same teams next year. Earlier this week, Staples explained why he believes no Big 12 school will move to the ACC anytime soon.

“What’s the incentive for the Big 12 school to move?” Staples asked. “There’s no more money. Which one seems more stable right now? Which one has somebody suing it right now?” 

Fans already saw the end of the Pac-12 this past season as every school but Oregon State and Washington State departed from the conference. Although the ACC has managed to stay in tact for now, a similar fate could be in store given the direction things are headed. 

Staples pointed to another reason why the Big 12 seems to be more stable for the future than the ACC. He noted that all of the schools in the conference hold a similar status in the college sports world, with no one school being able to claim more relevance than the rest. 

That certainly isn’t the case in the ACC, where you have programs such as Florida State, Clemson and Miami mixed in with schools such as Boston College and Pittsburgh. The schools with bigger fan bases have already made clear that they believe they deserve a bigger piece of the conference revenue pie, which is currently split up evenly between every school. 

“(The Big 12 schools) are all alike,” Staples said. “The ACC schools are not all alike. Florida State and Boston College are very different. That is in itself a problem. The Big 12, there’s a definite ceiling on it. But you’re also not going to have a situation where somebody’s like, ‘we’re so much more desirable than everybody else. We’re getting the hell out of here.’ You don’t have to worry about that now.”