The Biggest Overachievers in College Basketball so Far in 2015-16

College basketball is a team game, but it's one where some players are expected to do more than others. The rest of the group just need to stick to their roles, and good things should happen.

But that doesn't mean they can't do more. In fact, getting bigger contributions from unexpected places will undoubtedly result in better overall results for a team.

Based on preseason expectations and current performance, we've identified some of college basketball's biggest overachievers through a little more than half of the 2015-16 season. These aren't necessarily teams' top scorers or best rebounders, but in each case it's someone whose play has been integral to that team's success.

Joel Berry, North Carolina

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North Carolina has had two different starters miss significant time because of injury, yet the Tar Heels have been one of the most consistent performers throughout the season. Their depth has made it so the absence of senior guard Marcus Paige for the first six games and senior center Kennedy Meeks for seven games in the middle of the season wasn't an issue.

Joel Berry's play during those times, and over the entire season, has been among the most pleasant surprises from the non-stars. The 6'0" sophomore guard seemed unprepared for the college game a year ago, a poor shooter who couldn't run the offense, but now he's UNC's assist leader, and at 12.5 points per game, he is one of six players averaging double figures.

With Berry able to run the offense, it leaves Paige free to be a scorer. Paige has been in a slump of late, though, but Berry has stepped up by making seven of 12 three-pointers in the last three games.

"UNC is 15-0 this year when Joel Berry scores 10 or more points," Mark Carroll of the ACC Sports Journal tweeted.

Rodney Bullock, Providence

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Rodney Bullock is in his third year of college but the first in which he's actually getting to play. The 6'8" forward took a redshirt in 2013-14; then last season he had to sit out after needing surgery on a preseason leg injury.

Now that he's finally able to contribute, Bullock is finally showing what he can do. And it's been a lot.

Bullock has heavily impacted Providence's 16-3 start. He's third on the team in scoring (13.2) and second in rebounding (7.3). He has five double-doubles, including a career-high 25 points with 10 rebounds in the Friars' win at Butler to open Big East play on Dec. 31.

Deyonta Davis, Michigan State

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Michigan State is riding a three-game losing streak after Wednesday's shocking home loss to Nebraska—a skid that's come since the Spartans got star guard Denzel Valentine back from injury. The losses have shown Valentine can't do it all; he must get help from others for MSU to succeed in the Big Ten.

Count Deyonta Davis among those who are doing their best to be involved, and in his case it's in a much- greater fashion than projected. The 6'10" forward was a 4-star prospect, per 247Sports, but not one who was expected to be a driving force right away; yet all season he's been making a difference on both ends of the court.

Davis is MSU's top shot-blocker, despite playing only 17.6 minutes per game, and much of his scoring comes on offensive rebounds that have led to a healthy 67 percent shooting rate.

He played a career-high 29 minutes on Wednesday, scoring 13 points with seven rebounds (three offensive) and two blocks.

Bradley Hayes, Georgetown

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Bradley Hayes could hardly get off the bench during his first three seasons at Georgetown—a 7-footer who essentially only saw action when the outcome was no longer in doubt. Now he's the Hoyas' most important interior player.

The senior isn't putting up huge numbers by any means, averaging 8.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 53.6 percent shooting in 21.7 minutes per night. But compare those to his career numbers coming in—30 points, 42 boards and four blocks in 134 total minutes—and you see how much he's mattered this season.

Georgetown is an NCAA tournament bubble team at best, though it does have some significant wins. That includes against Syracuse in December, when Hayes had a career-high 21 points, and Tuesday's upset win at Xavier that featured nine points and five rebounds from the center.

Tra-Deon Hollins, Nebraska-Omaha

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You never know what you're going to get from a junior-college transfer, but schools like Nebraska-Omaha often have to dip into the JUCO ranks to find their impact players. Tra-Deon Hollins has far exceeded all expectations to this point, proving to be one of the country's top defensive players.

The 6'2" junior guard averages 4.3 steals per game, almost 50 percent more than any other player in Division I. That's in addition to 11.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and a team-high 5.9 assists per game.

Hollins, an Omaha native, spent time at two different junior colleges before joining the Mavericks. In his first season back home, he's had seven games with at least five steals, including a career-high eight along with 23 points in Saturday's home loss to IPFW.

Omaha is tied with IPFW for the Summit League standings at 4-1.

Khadeem Lattin, Oklahoma

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Oklahoma is incredibly guard-driven, reliant on Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard to handle most of the offense. The frontcourt is able to focus more on handling the defensive work—a system that has led to the Sooners holding opponents to 39.1 percent shooting.

This is where Khadeem Lattin is making his mark—a 6'9" sophomore forward who is playing nearly twice as much as a year ago and has started all 17 games. He's only scoring 6.2 points per game, though his 12.3 percent offensive rebound rate is tops on the team, according to Sports-Reference.com. And when he's protecting the rim, opponents find out soon enough it's hard to get a shot over him.

Lattin blocks 8.9 percent of shots that are taken when he's on the court, with 38 swats total. He's logged 22 in Oklahoma's six Big 12 games, including six apiece in the triple-overtime loss at Kansas and five days later in a home win over Kansas State.

Marshall Plumlee, Duke

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After losing four starters off last year's national title team, Duke knew it was going to need to get maximum contributions from every rotation player in 2015-16. That's become even more necessary with the Blue Devils down to basically a six-man lineup with only one true frontcourt player.

That would be Marshall Plumlee—the last of the famed family of Duke big men who will be entering the military after this season instead of pursuing a professional career. The 7'0" senior doesn't have the overall skill set of older brothers Mason and Miles, but he might make up for it in overall effort.

Duke has lost three straight games for the first time since 2006-07, but things would be even worse if Plumlee weren't overachieving down low. He's averaging career highs in scoring (8.2), rebounding (7.9), blocks (1.9) and minutes (28.3), having never logged more than 9.6 minutes per game in any of his previous three seasons.

"He’s playing with the ultimate confidence," Duke guard Matt Jones said, per Laura Keeley of the News & Observer.

Plumlee is also shooting 67.9 percent, which would rank fifth in Division I if he took more shots.

Jarelle Reischel, Eastern Kentucky

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Jarelle Reischel is wrapping up a college career that has taken him to three different Division I programs—a journey befitting the one that originally brought him to the United States at 16 from his native Germany. Neither Texas (at Rice) or Rhode Island turned out to be the best place for the 6'5" swingman, but now as a graduate transfer he's feeling right at home in Kentucky.

Reischel leads the Colonels in scoring (19.2) and rebounding (7.6) while shooting 50.5 percent from the field. He averaged 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds as a freshman at Rice and 4.3 points and 2.2 boards in two years with Rhode Island.

One of the country's most aggressive players, Reischel is adept at getting to the line. He ranks 11th in the nation in free-throw attempts and eight in made foul shots, sinking 82.3 percent this season after coming into the year as a 60.7 percent foul-shooter.

Reischel's play earned him a spot on Bleacher Report's All-Europe team for 2015-16.

Duncan Robinson, Michigan

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NCAA transfer rules don't just apply to players going from one Division I program to another, they also come into effect in the rare case when someone from Division III is good enough to earn a scholarship at the D-I level. Yeah, like that happens a lot.

It did with Duncan Robinson, and after he sat out the 2014-15 season following his transfer from Williams College to Michigan, we now see why.

The 6'8" wing might end up becoming a trendsetter if other big-name programs want to search for a hidden gem at a small school, as Robinson is hitting 51.6 percent of his three-pointers. That percentage is down a bit after going 5-of-18 over the Wolverines' last two games, including a 3-of-10 performance in Wednesday's home win over Minnesota.

All but 34 of his 148 field-goal attempts have come from outside the arc, so it's not like he's catching opponents by surprise by camping out on the perimeter. Yet, he's still made more than 30 percent of Michigan's threes.

Matt Thomas, Iowa State

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Iowa State has enough offensive weapons to where it doesn't need much more from Matt Thomas than what he's provided in his three seasons. He's first and foremost a three-point shooter, and this season he's hitting at a career-best 40.8 percent clip to average 9.7 points per game.

If that's all the 6'4" junior guard was bringing to the court, that would be enough to justify his play. But he's also drastically improved his rebounding, from 2.1 per game as a freshman to 5.1 this season, making for four starters on the Cyclones who pull down at least five boards per game.

And then there's Thomas' play on defense, which doesn't show up in the stats—his 103.9 defensive rating is among the worst on the team—but is well-recognized by those in the know. He was tasked with blanketing Oklahoma scorer Buddy Hield on Monday, and though Hield had 27 points, it would have been much more without Thomas getting in the way.

"The Cyclones don’t get their first victory over a No. 1 team since 1957 without Thomas’ defense," Bobby La Gesse of the Ames Tribune wrote.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.