Texas Tech basketball: Ranking the all-time Red Raider point guards
No. 2: John Roberson 2007-2011
The next point guard on our list might be overlooked because his teams never seemed to get over the hump. But from 2007-2011 Plano, TX native John Roberson had a stellar career for the Red Raiders.
Finishing with 1,772 career points, Roberson is seventh on Tech’s all-time scoring list. What’s more, he is Tech’s all-time leader with 636 assists, 201 more than any other player to ever wear the Double-T.
Additionally, he owns three of the program’s top-12 single-season assist marks. In 2008-09, he haded out 212, the most for any Red Raider ever, and his 2009-10 season total of 190 is good for second all-time.
Remarkably consistent throughout his collegiate career, Roberson scored at least 12.3 points per game in all four of his seasons as a Red Raider while starting 120 of 129 career games. His career-high was the 14.6 he averaged as a junior in 2009-10.
As both a sophomore and a senior he led the Red Raiders in scoring. What’s more, his 278 made baskets in Big 12 play rank fifth in program history.
The 5-foot-11 guard was a dangerous outside shooter ranking 9th in program history with a 39.2% career average from behind the arc. What’s more, the 78 3-pointers he made as a senior are the 6th-most for any Tech player in a single season.
The problem for Roberson’s legacy is that he never guided his team to the NCAA Tournament. In fact, in three of his four seasons, Tech failed to reach the postseason at all only making it to the NIT in 2009-10.
Many expected more from that era of the program. Coming on the heels of the program’s resurgence under Bob Knight, Tech brought in Roberson, Mike Singletary, and D’Wayln Roberts, three of the top-10 players in Texas in the class of 2007 but that trio did not live up to the collective hype.
But from an individual perspective, John Roberson had one of the most accomplished careers in Texas Tech basketball history. The problem is that most of us don’t realize it because it happened during the Pat Knight era, which we’d all just as soon forget.