Photo credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
Sean Stewart Fixes One Recent Duke Basketball Team Shortcoming
Sean Stewart, a former five-star McDonald's All-American with off-the-charts bounce as the son of retired eight-year NBA big man Michael Stewart, tends to spark Duke basketball runs. Simple as that. A turbo boost off the bench.
Yet for whatever reason, second-year head coach Jon Scheyer didn't call on him much early in the season.
Now, though, Scheyer shows trust in the 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward a bit more often, evident in his minutes late in the first half at home against unranked Boston College (13-10, 4-8 ACC) on Saturday afternoon.
As Scheyer noted afterward, a point of emphasis in practice this week was for the No. 9 Blue Devils (18-5, 9-3 ACC) to devise a way to snap their seven-game streak of getting outscored down the stretch entering the locker room.
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So, Scheyer's decision to employ Stewart across the final 4:10 before the break speaks volumes. It paid off to the tune of helping stir up a 9-4 Duke run that turned a 28-27 deficit into a 36-32 halftime lead.
And the Blue Devils built on that momentum via a 7-0 run out of the gates in the second half on their way to a comfortable 80-65 victory.
Sure, Sean Stewart, who posted a plus/minus of +10 in only 12 minutes of action, wasn't on the floor to start the second half. Nevertheless, it felt as though his thirst for grabbing a rebound or steal in the first half and wasting no time in initiating a fastbreak opportunity ultimately proved contagious.
The innate tempo-pusher finished with five points, including four in the final four minutes of the first half, along with two rebounds, one assist, one steal, and zero turnovers while shooting 2-for-3 from the field and 1-for-2 at the charity stripe.
Those stats alone don't jump off the page. Even so, for the second outing in a row, Scheyer made a point in his postgame presser to praise Stewart's work ethic and positive attitude while suggesting that the 18-year-old from Windermere, Fla., a longtime neighbor to Duke basketball legend Grant Hill, is becoming an X-factor:
"I thought Sean Stewart's minutes were key today. He had some key minutes end of the first half when we got the lead. Coming back in the second half, he's just growing every single game...
"He did a terrific job...I mean, he works, and he has worked, as hard as anybody on the team. And he shows up as consistent as anybody. I think just his feel, and he's so competitive...End of the day, you play guys that, when you're on the court, do they help you win? And Sean, it's a great example tonight.
"Look, [starting forward] Mark Mitchell is still going to play [despite Stewart subbing in for him late in the first half]. Like Sean, I could have kept him in there. It's a great problem to have when you have a couple of guys that are playing that way.
"And Sean, his roles continue to grow. It's because of the work that he's put in and how it's translated on the court for us."
For only the third time this season, Sean Stewart has received double-digit minutes in back-to-back games. Chances are he'll now make that three straight or more, perhaps serving as a now-trusted spark plug here on out late in the first half.
NEXT DUKE BASKETBALL GAME: at home versus unranked Wake Forest (16-7, 8-4 ACC), 7 p.m. ET Monday (ESPN)
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