Nate Roberts Hints Saturday's UW Home Game Might Be His Last
Nate Roberts had the game of his life on Thursday night for the University of Washington basketball team. Opportunistic at every turn, he scored a career-best 18 points and chipped in 16 rebounds in an extra satisfying 78-67 victory over Oregon.
So in the postgame interview session, what does the fourth-year 6-foot-11 junior center from Washington, D.C. suggest?
Roberts intimated he might pull a Jim Brown or an Andrew Luck and retire in his athletic prime.
It was hard to tell whether he was teasing or serious about playing just one more UW home game, this coming against Oregon State on Saturday, followed by postseason play before possibly passing up his final season of Husky eligibility.
"It hasn't hit me whether it will be my last game or not," Roberts said as he sat next to Terrell Brown Jr., who definitely will put the capper on playing parts of six seasons of collegiate basketball.
Either way, the Huskies will host Senior Day and honor their players who are positioned to move on if they choose.
UW coach Mike Hopkins, without naming them, said nine players will go through the ceremony, though some of them ultimately could choose to return in 2022-23.
Such is the uncertain nature of college basketball these days. After playing a couple of seasons during a pandemic, some Huskies simply might be ready for a different lifestyle.
Others might be eyeing the transfer portal.
And yet others might just want to pick up a few souvenir baubles, such as a framed jersey, and then add to their collections with another one a year from now.
Nine players?
Brown and Daejon Davis, grad transfers from Arizona and Stanford respectively, who came home to finish their college careers, definitely are at the end of the road with their eligibility.
Likewise, starters Emmitt Matthews Jr., Jamal Bey and Roberts all have senior status scholastically but retain another year of basketball eligibility because of pandemic provisions, as does 7-foot-5 reserve center Riley Sorn.
Deep subs Reagan Lundeen, Noah Neubauer and Jonah Geron each are seniors in academic standing, too.
Roberts, a two-year Husky starter after redshirting and being used sparingly behind current NBA players Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels, just enjoyed a scoring night that was five points higher than anything he had turned in over 74 previous games.
Maybe the 4.1-point career scorer feels he's hit his high-water mark and it's time to go.
Or, failing to have receive a Senior Day outing in high school as he pointed out, maybe Roberts wants to have two in college.
His parents, indeed, are traveling from the East Coast to be with him for Saturday's ceremony.
"I'm going to try my best to embrace the moment," Roberts said.
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