City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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MIAMI -- Mike Robbins was feeling good.

Watching his teammate Obi Enechionyia spotting up from the corner, the Temple senior walk-on tracked the shot, saw it coming off the front rim, and in one smooth motion leapt toward the bucket, gathering up the miss and laying it back in with his left hand.

It was a typical Division I move in a not-so-typical Division I gym -- American Airlines Arena, typically home to the Miami Heat.

Robbins admitted it was a “surreal” feeling, though not because he was playing on the same court where LeBron James and the Heat won back-to-back NBA Titles in 2012 and 2013, where countless other pros have showed off their stuff in front of nearly 20,000 fans a night.

“It’s this uniform right here,” he said, popping the black and cherry No. 22 jersey he still wore at the post-game podium. “That’s why it’s surreal.”

Playing in front of a much smaller crowd of several hundred scattered throughout the arena’s lower bowl, Robbins’ stat line might not have popped out to those in attendance: eight points and three rebounds in 13 minutes of action, most of which came in the first half of the Owls’ 74-65 win. But those numbers don’t even tell a fraction of the story.

After all, Robbins hadn’t hit a shot of any kind -- in any size gym -- during an official game in nearly two years.

The Lower Merion product had initially earned a spot on the Owls as a walk-on sophomore during the 2014-15 season, after spending his freshman year as a student at St. John’s, then coming back to Philly to attend classes at Community College of Philadelphia. During his first season at Temple, he saw spare minutes in 11 games -- including two minutes against South Florida on Jan. 22, 2015, during which time he knocked down one from deep as well as one foul shot (on two attempts).

Already, that was an improvement over what his expectations were after his high school experience finished up with a loss to Chester in the 2012 PIAA Class AAAA state championship. After serving as a co-captain of the Aces, he knew there was a chance he’d never see action in a game that really counted again.

“(My playing career) was over, and the guy back there” -- Robbins gestured to Temple coach Fran Dunphy, standing at the back of the press room -- “gave me a second chance, and I’m forever grateful for that.

“I had no vision for my college career,” he added. “So anything I get, I’m taking full advantage of it. I’m not worried about if I don’t play or if I play a lot, either way I’m going at it 100 percent.”

Since that game against USF, he’d only so much as attempted one long-range shot, earlier this season against UMass back on Nov. 17. In 19 career games entering the contest against Blue Demons at American Airlines on Saturday, he’d taken a grand total of five field goal attempts, though he did earn a scholarship before his senior season.

Before playing 13 minutes against Manhattan on Nov. 20, he’d never played more than four minutes in any singular contest, seeing mostly mop-up minutes or a few seconds at the end of a half.

Now, it’s clear he’s able to chip in when called upon, on a team that’s already got two Top-25 wins and has hopes of making the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and eighth time in Dunphy’s 11 seasons.

“He doesn’t have a lot of expectations,” Dunphy said. “He’s not putting a lot of expectations on himself, whatever he gets he’s going to be thrilled to get and it’s a nice thing for a coach to know that’s available to us.

“I think if I had gone to him more, sooner [in his career], I think he would have responded the same way that he responded today,” he added. “So I’m really happy for any success that he gets and he’s been a great teammate to all these guys, he asks for nothing and he’s appreciative of everything, which is really a nice way to be.”

Robbins got himself started on Saturday with a 3-pointer from the far corner, pushing Temple’s lead to 14 just past the midway point of the first half. A minute later, he added a long two-point jumper from straightaway, then his nifty put-back with 4:47 before halftime to put Temple up 33-18; it was a 40-23 Owls lead at the break, and Robbins’ seven points had him right there with the leaders.

His teammates were thrilled to see his effort behind the scenes finally paying off.

“He put in work for two summers and he earned every minute he had out there and every minute he’s going to get in the future,” said senior guard Josh Brown, the team’s starting point guard and its unquestioned leader. “So I’m proud of him and looking forward to seeing what he does the next couple of games.”

Robbins didn’t play quite as much in the second half, coming in only after Brown fouled out with four minutes to play. He did come up with nifty block on a fast break, though, and his rebound with 12 seconds left -- followed by a foul shot -- sealed the win.

That’s more than okay by him.

“I had no vision for my college career,” he said. “So anything I get, I’m taking full advantage of it. I’m not worried about if I don’t play or if I play a lot, either way I’m going at it 100 percent.”