Matt Roth

Photo Credit: Inside The Hall

Matt Roth Biography

Matt Roth is an American basketball player from Washington, Illinois who played for Indiana University. He was a member of the Hoosiers from 2008-2012 and played guard during this time. He was initially recruited by Kelvin Sampson and played under Tom Crean. He was best known for his sharpshooting abilities and leadership during the Movement era.

  • Name: Matt Roth
  • Position: Guard
  • Nationality: USA
  • Age: 35 years old
  • Birthday: August 8, 1989
  • Hometown: Washington, IL
  • High School: Washington Community High School (Washington, IL)
  • Height: 6’3″ (191 cm)
  • Weight: 185 lb (84 kg)
  • Seasons at Indiana University: 4 (2008-2012)
  • Jersey: #30
  • Education: Bachelor of Science in Sports Communications with a minor in Telecommunication. Graduate School in Sports Administration and Management.

Awards and Accolades

  • 2012 Big Ten Leader in 3FG% (54.5%)
  • 2012 Sweet Sixteen
  • 2011 & 2012 Academic All Big Ten

Social Media Accounts

Matt Roth High School Recruiting Profile

Source: Washington Tournament of Champions

Matt Roth attended Washington Community High School in Washington, IL and graduated in 2008. He played guard for the Panthers. He averaged 18 points per game as a sophomore for Coach Kevin Brown. He did not garner much collegiate interest until his junior year. Matt played most of his high school career as a relatively unknown player until he started to turn heads from his sharpshooting abilities.

As a junior, Roth averaged 21.1 points per game and started to light up the scoreboard from behind the arc with a 3FG% of 48%. He converted 143 three-pointers which was just shy of the state record for Illinois. He led the Panthers for a 27-2 record and was a member of the AP 2006-2007 Class AA all-state first team for Illinois. He was awarded second team honors by the Chicago Tribune and third team honors by the Chicago Sun-Times.

He played in the Adidas Super 64 AAU Tournament in Las Vegas and started to get offers from teams such as Indiana from then head coach Kelvin Sampson. As a senior he was named all-state for averaging 22 points per game and become the Illinois state record holder for the most three-pointers made in his career. He took his team to the state finals for the first time since 1962.

  • 247 Composite Ranking: 0.8997
  • Rivals: 3-Star

He decided on attending Indiana University over teams such as Notre Dame, St. Louis University and Bradley. He committed to play for the Hoosiers on 8/23/2007.

Matt Roth Seasons with the Hoosiers

2008-2009 Indiana Basketball Season
Tom Crean (1st Season)
6-25 (1-17 Big Ten)
11th Place Big Ten

2009-2010 Indiana Basketball Season
Tom Crean (2nd Season)
10-21 (4-14 Big Ten)
9th Place Big Ten

2010-2011 Indiana Basketball Season
Tom Crean (3rd Season)
12-20 (3-15 Big Ten)
11th Place Big Ten

2011-2012 Indiana Basketball Season
Tom Crean (4th Season)
27-9 (11-7 Big Ten)
5th Place Big Ten
🏅 NCAA Sweet Sixteen

Career Statistics at Indiana University

GP GS MIN AVG FG FGA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT FT FTA PCT OFF DEF TOT AVG PF FO AST AST/G T/O BLK STL PTS AVG
2008-2009 31 7 651 21 66 174 0.379 57 153 0.373 20 25 0.8 9 32 41 1.3 32 0 12 0.4 16 3 19 209 6.7
2009-2010 2 0 11 5.5 1 2 0.5 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 1 1 0.5 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 2
2010-2011 28 0 230 8.2 30 78 0.385 27 72 0.375 8 9 0.889 3 11 14 0.5 15 0 7 0.3 1 0 3 95 3.4
2011-2012 34 0 400 11.8 44 82 0.537 42 77 0.545 15 15 1 5 17 22 0.6 25 0 14 0.4 5 1 4 145 4.3
Career 95 7 1292 13.6 141 336 0.420 126 303 0.416 45 51 0.882 17 61 78 0.8 73 0 33 0.3 24 4 26 453 4.8

Matt Roth’s Indiana University Basketball Career

Source: Yahoo Sports

Matt Roth started his freshman year with an immediate impact and considerable playing time for the Hoosiers in Tom Crean’s first season after Kelvin Sampson was dismissed. He averaged a career best 6.7 points in the 2008-2009 season and played in 31 games with 7 starts. He tied for the team’s lead in 3FG% with 37.3% As conference play started, he showed more productivity with 7.8 points per game. He made his first career start int he first game of the Maui Classic against Notre Dame. He tied a school record with 9 made three-pointers against Ohio State, which tied Rod Wilmont for the record. He tallied 29 points this game on 9-11 shooting which were all behind the arc. This will be his career high in point total over his time at Indiana.

As a sophomore, he played the first two games of the year with high expectations after showing he has become more comfortable offensively. He suffered a season ending foot injury on November 18th at the Puerto Rico Tipoff.

As a junior, Matt played in 28 games and made 3.4 points per game. Fro the second season in a row, he suffered an early season injury, this time in the first game against Ferris State before leaving with a knee injury. Fortunately, he missed only four games due to this injury. He ended the season with 37.5% from 3PT and played 8.2 minutes/game.

Source: Crimson Quarry

His senior year, he saw increased productivity again with 11.8 minutes/game on 34 games played. He tallied 4.3 points per game, but played a more specific role with specializing from behind the arc. He made 54.5% from 3PT on the season which was a Big Ten best. He was named Academic All-Big Ten for two seasons in a row. He played a crucial role in the game against Penn State by making 5-6 from 3PT and hitting all 7 of his free throws. for a total of 22 points. He played in the NCAA Tournament in all three games, the longest of which was 14 minutes against Kentucky.

Obviously, the scholarship situation didn’t work out in my favor. Prior to the end of the school year and our meetings, they were very positive. They wanted me to keep building my game and train, even if it was on my own. At the same time, they wanted to help me in any way possible, whether that was play somewhere else or play overseas in a certain league here or there. They did make those options available and offered a lot of support.

Matt Roth on his scholarship not being renewed

After the season concluded, there was controversy about his basketball career due to the fact he sat out a season injured and Indiana picking up one of the nation’s top recruiting classes for the upcoming season. He was not able to acquire a basketball scholarship and his basketball career ended. Overall, Roth was a player well known for understanding his role on the team and not forcing poor shots. He kept the defense stretched thin and his leadership on the court grew more as he became more experienced.

Matt Roth’s Career after Indiana

Source: Hoosier Times

After ending his Indiana career, he completed his master’s degree at Bloomington in Sports Administration. He went on to briefly coach as an assistant at Blackhawk Christian in Fort Wayne, IN. In 2017, he concluded his coaching career and went on to forcus on officiateing games for JV and Varsity in the Fort Wayne, IN area. His wife’s father, Bob, is a well-known college referee. His wife, Lindsay also coached at Blackhawk Christian and led the team to a 1A state title in volleyball at the head coach.

Matt Roth Videos and Highlights

Highlights in College

Highlights in High School

Interviews and other Videos of Matt Roth


Contributor: Dakota Thompson