Duke men's basketball 2019-20 player review: Justin Robinson

Justin Robinson

• Year: Graduate Student
• Height: 6-foot-9
• Position: Forward
• This year’s stat line: 2.8 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 6.8 MPG
• The Blue Zone’s projected stat line: 1.5 PPG, 0.5 RPG, 3.6 MPG

Season breakdown: Justin Robinson has spent much of his time as a Blue Devil sitting on the bench, becoming incredibly well liked from the Cameron Crazies for his character. Often times, pregame warm-ups consisted of “J-Rob” chants from the blue swarm in the student section. Robinson finally got the opportunity to deliver on his hype, as head coach Mike Krzyzewski believed the graduate student had earned more playing time this season. 

Last year, the San Antonio, Texas native played less than two minutes in every conference game. This season, he hit a career high of 25 minutes in his last game at Duke and was on a three-game streak for double-digit playing time when the season ended. It’s a shame that the postseason was cut short, because he was just getting started. 

Robinson’s turning point came late in the season when he brought heat to a home game against N.C. State. He made both of his attempted shots from beyond the arc and totaled 10 points overall. This performance earned Robinson some more playing time in a sweet victory against North Carolina, where he was able to revel in the matchup against the Tobacco Road rivals, hitting 4-for-7 from the field and 4-for-6 on 3-pointers. 

Results relative to expectations:  The son of NBA Hall of Fame David Robinson came onto the team as a walk-on his freshman year, so it was expected that he wouldn’t spend much time on the court in his time at Duke. The Chronicle predicted that Robinson would average 1.5 points per game, but Robinson nearly doubled that. In his fifth year, the San Antonio Christian Academy product proved that the hours of practice on this team did help him grow as a player. So, it’s no secret that he highly exceeded expectations this season. The roars in Cameron Indoor Stadium from his 3-point shooting streak proved that fact.

Stay tuned to the Blue Zone for our continuing player reviews. Previous players previewed include Alex O’Connell, Joey Baker, Jack White, Javin DeLaurier and Jordan Goldwire.