ROUNDBALL DAILY

Texas’ Kerwin Roach is a great dunker, but he’s also the key to the Longhorns’ season

Kerwin Roach Texas

Kerwin Roach (Photo: Houston Chronicle)

All college basketball season, we’ll be highlighting some of the names you should know come March, and even June, at the NBA Draft.

This week, we’re taking a look at Texas standout Kerwin Roach:

Kerwin Roach II, G, Texas: The senior from Houston had one of the illest dunks of the season against North Carolina, part of his career-best 32 points on absurd 12-of-15 shooting, which helped the Longhorns pull the upset over the Heels in the Las Vegas Invitational.

Roach has always been an explosive athlete, but he hadn’t put it all together during his first three years in Austin. This year, it’s been a little bit different. The 6-4 guard is putting up 18.6 points, 5.4 boards and 4.6 assists per game, and he’s played well in big games against UNC and Arkansas.

Roach may be a little small (he’s listed at 6-4 but that might be generous) for the NBA game, and he’s going to need to develop a reliable jump shot, but his athleticism and motor will give him a chance. He might be a guy that ends up in the G League at first, before eventually finding his way onto an NBA roster.

Texas is 5-1 to start the year, with wins over the ‘Heels and Hogs, both on neutral courts. They’ve got showdowns with VCU, Purdue and Providence before conference play starts, so there will be a few more chances to earn quality wins and patch together a solid resume. It’s taken a while, but it looks as though Shaka Smart finally has things rolling in Austin. If he can get consistent play out of Roach and senior big man Dylan Osetkowski going forward, Texas has the chance to be a Sweet 16 or Elite Eight threat come tournament time.

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