As is to be expected when a team loses a first team all-conference level player, the Green Bay Phoenix have struggled mightily without their star Anthony Roy.
The 6’5” senior was playing at a Horizon League Player of the Year level prior to suffering a significant ankle injury in a game at UC-Santa Barbara back on December 14th.
Roy’s absence has left an enormous void for the Phoenix to try and fill.
His 25.7 points per game still leads the country, though he no longer qualifies amongst stat leaders due to the amount of games he has missed. He is also the team’s second leading rebounder at 5.3 boards per game ranking behind only 6’8” newcomer Yonatan Levy, and his 32 assists this season still rank 4th on the team despite missing the past 12 games.
In the 11 games he has played this season, he accounted for nearly 35% of the team’s total points, 23% of the team’s total assists, and 18% of the team’s total rebounds.
So will Green Bay get their best player back anytime soon?
Head coach Doug Gottlieb was asked about his return timeline following last week’s loss to IU-Indy and would not confirm or deny the rumor that Roy is getting his boot taken off this week, which could signify his return is only a couple weeks away.
“Anthony Roy will play basketball for us this year,” Gottlieb said at his postgame press conference. “But we can’t do the, you know ‘Waiting on Godot’ thing. We can’t think ‘well when Anthony gets back’, we’ve just got to get better.”
“We’ve got to be better defensively. It doesn’t matter if he’s here, if he plays, doesn’t play.”
In the 12 games without Roy, Green Bay is 0-12 and has lost 9 of those games by double digits. The average margin of defeat is nearly 14 points per game and the Phoenix are scoring 10 points less per game (63.6) without him than they were in the 11 games he has played this season (73.6).
Gottlieb praised his star for the way he has conducted himself during his injury rehab, even going so far to say he is helping with scouting reports and giving his thoughts and input.
“I don’t know if you guys have watched but Anthony Roy is an incredible teammate,” Gottlieb said. “Comes to every practice, comes to every shootaround, and in college basketball to have that and to tell guys ‘I’m coming back’….I don’t know when he’ll play before then but he has told everybody ‘I am playing Senior Night’.
“I’m not going to rush him, I’m not going to force him.”
“Of course I’d love for him to play, he’s a cheat code,” Gottlieb continued. “He makes me look like a so much better coach. But I believe Anthony Roy will play this year by sheer force and will.”
Compare that to earlier in the season when the coach decided to send a message and bench his star player for missing a pre-game shootaround, Gottlieb has been impressed with the turnaround and maturity he has seen over the past few months.
“He’s really grown up in Green Bay,” Gottlieb said.
While this could be Roy’s final season of college basketball, a recent court order ruled that former JUCO players could potentially gain a season of eligibility, meaning he could play an additional season next year if he chooses. Roy played one season at the junior college level at Wenatchee Valley College and also played at the NAIA level at Langston University last season.
“With the new rules he could play more college basketball next year and we’d love for him to play for us, but we’re also realistic about what the world of college basketball looks like,” Gottlieb said. “He wants to be an NBA player, I think he is one.”
“But in regard regards to his timeline, he’s going to play this year for GB and I don’t care if he doesn’t score a point, just that alone speaks the type of human being he is.”
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