But even that type of experience, spread out over 10 seasons at Queens College and St. John’s in the late-1990s and early 2000s, did not prevent KU’s acting head coach from feeling a few butterflies before the Jayhawks’ 89-64 win over Omaha at Allen Fieldhouse.

“You’re anxious leading up to it, and then when you got out there, it kind of was like, ‘OK. Coach,'” said Roberts after the first of four games in which he will fill in for suspended KU coach Bill Self.

Roberts said his role on Monday night brought back memories of his time at St. John’s, where he last coached a game in the spring of 2010.

During the day, he caught a quick nap and then went through his regular gameday routine, with the only exception being handing off pregame duties for a drill called “big and little” to KU assistant Joe Dooley.

When it was go time, Roberts, like Self typically does, came out onto the court last. From there, he settled in quickly and led the Jayhawks (1-0) to a hot start and a runaway victory.

“It was great,” said KU junior Jalen Wilson when asked how things went with Roberts in charge. “One thing about our team, we always step up when we have any adversity.”

Wilson said the Kansas players have faith in all members of KU’s bench to deliver the right things at the right time for the Jayhawks to have success. Wilson called Self’s crew “the greatest coaching staff in America,” and added that the Kansas players take a great deal of pride in doing their part to help the coaches, as well.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a little weird without Self on the sideline. Wilson went into a specific moment when he expected to hear Self’s voice on the sideline.

“The halftime 3 (that Omaha hit), that’s one of coach’s biggest pet peeves, them scoring at the buzzer at half,” Wilson said. “As soon as they did it, I looked over to hear him yell and I was like, ‘Oh, he ain’t yelling today.’ That was my moment.”

Bobby Pettiford, the player who likely would have been on the receiving end of Self’s wrath in that moment, said he felt like he got away with one there. But he didn’t expect it to last.

“I can hear coach Self now though,” said Pettiford after the game, gesturing to a voice in his head. “I’m sure I’ll hear it sometime tomorrow.”

Per the rules of the suspension, Self can rejoin the team as early as 12 a.m. Tuesday and continue working with them through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday night. KU plays North Dakota State on Thursday and Self is prohibited from being around the program in any capacity for a 24-hour period on gamedays.

That was no problem Monday night, and Roberts said he and Dooley, who has 13 years of head coaching experience including as recently as last season at East Carolina, discussed the importance of one man taking charge when the game got going.

“Me and Joe talked about that today at shoot-around,” Roberts said. “There had to be one voice, which was mine, and it kind of rekindled that thought of running your own shoot-arounds (in the past). It was fun in that way.”

According to KU officials, Monday’s win, as well as the outcome of the next three KU games, will neither go on Roberts’ record nor that of Self’s. Instead, they will go down as program wins or losses, not assigned to any one person.