Lam was left to rue his side's inability to secure a bonus point but they still have a mathematical chance of reaching the knock-out stages ahead of this weekend's trip to Saracens.
Henshaw in particular caught the eye against Zebre in the No.13 jersey, having also impressed Lam the week before against Brian O'Driscoll's Leinster.
And Lam believes the Connacht youngster has a bright future ahead of him.
"Time is needed to settle in that position (outside-centre)," Lam told the Irish Independent.
"We've made some slight adjustments, particularly on his defence lines, to suit his aggressive, in-the-face sort of style and it paid off.
"He knows he's just like Jack (Carty) and Darragh (Leader) and the rest of them, he's still got a lot of development to go.
"More game time is helping him and, hopefully, he'll get a chance in the internationals coming up too. I believe he's ready for that.
"I thought last week particularly against, you know, the legend (O'Driscoll) he did well. He got a lot of confidence out of that and he has another game under his belt [against Zebre]."
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Guinness PRO12 Connacht News
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