By PAUL GOTHAM
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. — Sometimes a gentle reminder can help one find himself. A cattle prod doesn’t hurt either.
For one night at least, Monmouth’s Justin Robinson made himself a household name for college basketball fans. It almost didn’t happen.
Perhaps it was the fact that the diminutive point guard paid too much respect to his opponent. Maybe he wanted to get his teammates into a rhythm. Whatever the case, Robinson went to the locker room at halftime without a made field goal, and his Hawks trailing the No. 17/18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish by eight in the opening round of the 2015 Advoacare Invitational.
“Sometimes I have to remind him to be him,” Monmouth head coach King Rice said. “He wants to get everybody else going. He truly is a very unselfish young man that he doesn’t care.”
Robinson erupted for 19 second-half points connecting on four of seven from the floor and all 11 of his attempts from the free throw line.
“I have to remind him sometimes: ‘We’re good because of the things you can do, too,'” Rice added. “I thought in the first half he wasn’t aggressive enough.”
Opposite Robinson was All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer Demetrius Jackson – a candidate for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard. The junior scored 11 of his 20 points in the game’s final ten minutes as Notre Dame inched its way back from an 11-point deficit that Monmouth mounted when Robinson took charge.
“Justin can score the ball on anybody,” Rice stated. “That’s what he does.”
Robinson gave Monmouth its first lead of the second half when he attacked Jackson off the dribble for an and-one. He was no longer, if he ever was, a player in awe of his opponent. He was a player who saw the green light his coach was giving. And it flashed brightly in front of him.
“If my team needs me to score then that’s what I’ll do,” Robinson said. “Tonight they needed my contribution by my scoring, so that’s what I did.”
He closed the game scoring his team’s final eight points as Monmouth knocked off a ranked opponent for the first time in program history.
“Coach stayed confident in me. I just had to relax and play my game. I don’t care about points like that. I care about winning.”
Robinson and Monmouth tip off against the University of Dayton Flyers, Friday night with a date in Sunday’s championship at stake. A 9:30 pm start time is scheduled.
Leave a Reply