Indiana State’s Robbie Avila is the best scoring and passing big man in all of college basketball. (Photo: Primo Greenway)
Jason Barnes
Staff Writer
The folks at Indiana State haven’t been having this much fun with basketball since Larry Bird was there in 1979. That was nearly 50 years ago.
But now, they’re beloved Sycamores are 21-3 on the season, which includes an eight-game winning streak, and the spot on top of the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 12-1 record.
Lots of things have played a part in Indiana State’s turnaround, but the biggest key has been the Sycamores big man Robbie Avila.
The 6-foot-10, 255-pound sophomore with the goofy googles and weird haircut has been spectacular this season. He’s averaging 16.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game and often times looks a whole lot like Denver Nuggets star, NBA champion, and two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
There are obvious similarities between the players both in build and play style. They may not look like the most athletic players on the floor, but they use their high basketball feel to make plays.
“He’s remarkably smart,” Indiana State head coach Josh Schertz said in an interview with reporters earlier this season. “He can get a rebound and lead the break. We can play offense through him. He can step out, shoot 3s. He has an unbelievable basketball IQ.”
Big men aren’t supposed to be able to pass the way that Avila does. He credits his dad and brother for teaching him that skill, along with studying a lot of tape from Jokic and Domantas Sabonis over the summer.
“He’s definitely someone I look after. Jokic is a big man that can play both inside and outside, and his ability to create is something I try to model after him.”
“Obviously I’m nowhere near as good as Jokic, but to see those little sparks of comparisons is amazing to me.”
Avila sees himself as a combination of Joker, Sabonis and shades of Kevin Love because of his ability to play inside and outside, stretching the floor with and his pure shooting ability. He’s hit 44.1 percent of his 3s this season and 57.5 percent of his field goals, dominating at the college level.
Despite the comparisons to the NBA superstar Jokic, he’s humble in the assessment of his own game.
“My strengths are being able to space the floor at my size and my playmaking ability. But my athleticism is going to hurt me a little bit. I’m going to be able to use my strength to hide that. But not being able to jump as high or move as quick, I have to work on that.”
He’s watched some of Larry Bird’s film as well, which is a prerequisite for Sycamore basketball players.
“They always say when you come here, strive to second. You’ll never catch up to Larry Bird at Indiana State.”
Avila knows that he doesn’t look like the prototypical dominant college athlete. But he uses that to his advantage. He’s honed his footwork through years of playing youth football and translated that to the hardwood. That gives him a deceptive first step and a flurry of post moves that shock his opponents.
“Sometimes, I’ll go ahead and make a move and the other opponent will be like, ‘Nice move, I did not expect that.’ I have moves here and there, I surprise my coaches even sometimes with some of the things I do.”
Avila is flattered by the interest that he’s gotten on social media, but he considers it outside noise. The NBA is the future goal for him, and he’s laser-focused on that.
He also has hopes of possibly representing Team Mexico one day. His dad is of Mexican descent, and he said that the momentum to play for them has started to build up a little bit.
“If it does come up, I would be 100 percent happy with taking the offer.”
Avila knows how to embrace a good opportunity when he sees it. Is he going to keep the College Jokic nickname?
“Oh yeah,” Avila said. “I can’t turn that down.”
The Sycamores will go for their ninth straight win on Saturday, when they go on the road to play Missouri State.