MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's basketball program and head coach
Lorenzo Romar announced today that the Waves will be adding one of the highest-scoring players in Division II,
Robbie Heath, who will transfer from West Chester University.
The 6-foot-3 guard, who is originally from Whittlesea, Australia, will sit out the 2020-21 school year (unless NCAA transfer rules change this summer) and have three seasons to play with the Waves.
"We looked at our roster for the future and knew that we needed scoring, especially a guard that can really score, and as we looked around he certainly fit the bill," Romar said. "Robbie is strong, he's athletic, he's aggressive."
As a 2019-20 freshman, Heath ranked ninth in Division II with a 24.6 points per game average for West Chester. He was the top-scoring freshman in all of Division II. He led the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in scoring while breaking the conference's freshman scoring record and West Chester's single-season record with 712 points. Heath was the PSAC East Rookie of the Year and made the All-PSAC East first team. He also earned the Eastern College Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year award and was named to the All-ECAC first team.
Heath scored in double-figures in all 29 games that he played and scored 20 or more points 22 times. He had eight 30-point games, and had a season-high 50 points against Bloomsburg on February 15, 2020. He was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Division II National Player of the Week on March 3 after he averaged 32.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.5 steals in the final two games of the regular season.
Heath also led the Golden Rams in rebounding (7.3), assists (2.6) and steals (1.6) this past season. He made 62 three-pointers and hit 81.4% (206-for-253) of his free throws. He led all of Division II in free throws attempted and was second in makes.
"It's all about competing for me," Heath said. "Being from Australia, it was always my goal to play Division I but I had to jump through a lot of hurdles to get to where I wanted to be. West Chester, a Division II school, was my only scholarship offer and I'm very thankful to them. But after what I did this year I put my name in the transfer portal.
"Coaches couldn't visit so it was all about relationships made over the phone, and what stood out was Coach Lorenzo's call. He's a well-known coach in the U.S. and coached a lot of great players. Right at the start we had a 45-minute phone call and it felt like I was talking to my dad, another basketball junkie. We had a number of good conversations.
"Pepperdine's getting a hard worker that just wants to win. I'm a team player. I can score, rebound and pass, but really, I just want to win. Coach Lorenzo is starting a winning culture at Pepperdine and I can't wait to be part of it."
Heath's father, Robert, is a U.S. citizen who played professionally in Australia and then settled down there. He and Robbie moved back to the U.S. when Robbie was 13 to further his basketball career. The younger Heath played at the same high school as his father, Abington High School in Abington, Pennsylvania. Robbie finished as the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,642 points. He made the all-state third team as a senior and was a three-time district champion.
