Country music and the underdog role: How Riley's Isaiah Robinson found himself within a new team

SOUTH BEND — When the South Bend Riley boys basketball team begins a practice or a workout in the weight room, there are two things that are always certain: Isaiah Robinson's phone will be on the aux cord, and you never know what songs he is going to play.

"Some days I am feeling like country, some Luke Combs," Robinson said. "Some days I would be listening to Drake. That is my favorite artist. And then another day, I may be feeling Michael Jackson."

Robinson's versatile ear for music doesn't always hit his teammate's tastes. He does what he can to get them to grow into it with little dances to each song.

"The teammates kind of razz him for it," Riley coach Alex Daniel said. "But he is sold to it. He’s kind of an old soul."

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Robinson, a senior on the Riley basketball team, is also a completely different person from the player that was the new kid on the block a year ago.

Robinson transferred to Riley from Concordia Lutheran (Fort Wayne) a year ago, before his junior season. In the midst of a once in a lifetime pandemic he had to carve out his role among a new coach, new teammates and a new system.

It didn't always come easy. His first couple of weeks in South Bend were a bit timid and standoffish. His role within the team began in smaller doses. Robinson sometimes doubted the process, but he stuck to it. Now as a senior leader for the Wildcats, he is seeing the results.

"Last year, I didn’t get to see a lot of people, didn’t really get to spread my wings and find friends that are like me," Robinson said. "This year, I am really showing my true colors."

Finding his way

The beginning of Robinson's transformation into the Riley program started at the Salvation Army Kroc Center. It was the hangout spot where Robinson played ping pong, pickup basketball games and lifted weights as his new teammates slowly got to know him more.

The pandemic slowed that process down. But as soon as Robinson got around more people, he began to come into his own.

"He was real shy at first," senior guard Jayson Johnson said, " (He) wasn’t really talking and he just came into himself. He’s just a character. He is goofy all of the time. He takes bad stuff and makes it good. When we're lifting weights he is always up, energized and listening to music. Being himself, always."

Robinson's teammates found out his favorite NBA players were Jrue Holiday and Kyrie Irving, due to his fondness for Duke basketball. Also that his bond with his father is as strong as anyone and pushes him on the court.

"Just growing up, working hard with basketball," he said. "Late nights, early mornings. Always working out. I have always been the underdog, so just keeping that same mentality through high school makes me push myself more."

Robinson used that mentality when he joined a Riley team with a core group of eight seniors, led by now-Notre Dame freshman, Blake Wesley.

Robinson's talent was noticeable right away, but at the beginning of his Riley career, his playing time was sparse. In three of Robinson's first seven games, he didn't score. In three others, he was held to six points or less.

"I felt like he was trying to prove a lot early," Daniel said. "He felt some pressure to perform and do some things, play a certain way."

But Robinson kept his head down, kept working hard. He worked out before and after practice. He asked a lot of questions, wanting to know what he could do and how could he do it.

"Eventually," Daniel said, "those traits and habits showed up on the court."

Robinson was also adjusting to Dillon's style of coaching, which was a faster-paced offense compared to the one he ran at Concordia Lutheran. Daniel also emphasized on a "locked-in" defense on every possession.

"That was a big difference," Robinson said. "Once I figured it out, I could see my game flourish."

By the end of the year, Robinson, who averaged almost six points per game in his first season in South Bend, went from a part-time rotational player, to a guy that Daniel needed on the court as the Wildcats made their run through sectionals.

Hitting his stride

Robinson's emergence at the end of last season was like a ticking time bomb.

Some games, when the Wildcats were struggling to score outside of Wesley, Robinson came off the bench to provide that boost. Toward the end of the year, he scored a season-high 18 points in a win over LIghthouse College Prep Academy. He added a 10-point performance a couple of weeks later in a win against Bremen.

And heading into sectionals, Robinson hit his stride at the right time.

"I remember in the (South Bend) Adams game (a 47-43 Riley win), we had to have Isaiah on the court," Daniel said.

In four playoff games, Robinson averaged just over five points, including nine points in Riley's first sectional game against Michigan City.

As Robinson grew into his own on the court, he began to wear his emotions on his sleeve more. Following Riley's sectional championship win over the Eagles, the program's first since 2018, Robinson embraced his coach with a big hug in the middle of the court.

"He knew the part he had in playing in it was what he worked for all year." Daniel said.

Now as one of the Wildcats' season leaders, Robinson knows the part he needs to play for Riley to meet expectations.

"My experience just needs to kick in and show them what we need to do," he said. "It is going to be different. We have a lot of away games this year, so it is going to be different, big crowds and everyone yelling at your face. Just knowing how people can be and tell the young people on this team to keep playing and don’t worry about what people are saying."

What comes next?

At 6-foot-1, the senior has an imposing body that looks built for the college level. What college level is still to be determined.

Robinson currently has offers from Division-III and NAIA programs, including Great Lakes Christian, Hope College and Sienna Heights, which have caught his eye due to program similarities to what he's experienced so far at Riley.

"Demanding (programs), but you know they are just trying to get the best out of you," Robinson said of the offers he's received so far. "... Just knowing that if I went there, that would be the system I would be in is good to know that they have the heart to want you to work."

Robinson, who is a high-GPA student, is also working toward an academic scholarship program — and a possible walk-on opportunity at Purdue.

"Obviously for any kid jumping up a level like that, it will take time, but Isaiah is a worker," Daniel said. "I know wherever he ends up, he is going to get there and be in a spot, wherever that spot may be, and work his tail off, put in the time and put in the thought to make himself better and his team better.

"I have no doubt that wherever Isaiah ends up he is going to be a big factor in whatever program that is."

Wherever Robinson ends up, there is no doubt he is bringing his extensive taste of music and strive to get better with him.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana high school basketball How Isaiah Robinson found himself at Riley