Kansas Adds Two Walk-Ons to Men's Basketball Program
June 6, 2010
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas head coach Bill Self announced Sunday the additions of walk-ons Justin Wesley and Niko Roberts to the men’s basketball program.
Wesley is a 6-8, 205-pound forward who is a transfer from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. The Fort Worth, Texas, native played 23 games for Lamar last season with two starts. Wesley averaged 9.9 minutes, 1.2 points and 1.3 rebounds per game for head coach Steve Roccaforte at Lamar. Wesley will be able to practice but not play for Kansas in 2010-11 due to NCAA transfer rules.
Wesley is the younger brother of KU great Keith Langford who was a standout from 2002-05 where he was a team member of two Kansas NCAA Final Four squads. Langford ranks seventh on the KU career scoring list with 1,812 points and he was a member of the 2003 NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team. Like Langford, Wesley went to North Crowley High School in Fort Worth where he was named all-district and earned defensive player of the year honors his senior season.
“We’ve known Justin a long time because he was Keith’s brother and Keith was one of KU’s all time greats,” Self said. “Justin is a really good athlete. He has a lot of bounce and energy. Keith and his mother (Charlene Taylor) are allowing him to live out his dream by playing here at Kansas.”
Formally Nicholas, Roberts is a 5-10, 175-pound point guard who averaged 15 points and five assists his senior season at Saint Anthony’s High School in Long Island, New York. The son of former Saint John’s head coach Norm Roberts, Niko Roberts, from Huntington, N.Y., was named to the senior all-star team of the Long Island Catholic League last season under head coach Jim Fenton. Norm Roberts served as an assistant coach under Self for nine seasons from 1996 through 2004 with stints at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois and Self’s first year at Kansas. He was Self’s associate head coach his last two seasons before leaving in 2005 to become the head coach at Saint John’s.
“I have known Niko for almost all his life. Cindy and I have known Norm and Pascale for the past 16 years or so,” Self said. “We’re excited about having Niko. He had a good high school career. He loved KU whenever they lived here before.”
Wesley and Roberts join KU men’s basketball newcomers Josh Selby and Royce Woolridge.
