Son of a UNC grad, Alabama’s Jarin Stevenson ready to play role in taking out No. 1 Duke
NEWARK, N.J. – Jarin Stevenson broke plenty of basketball-loving hearts in his home state of North Carolina when he graduated from Pittsboro’s Seaforth High School a year early to head to Alabama for his college career.
Since then, he’s gone about busting their brackets.
Last season, as a freshman, Stevenson helped the Crimson Tide reach the Final Four, topping North Carolina in the Sweet 16 along the way.
Saturday, the Chapel Hill native gets a chance to end Duke’s Final Four dream when the Crimson Tide (28-8) and Blue Devils (34-3) meet in the NCAA Tournament East Regional final at Prudential Center.
While the hometown Tar Heels were in the running to the end, before Stevenson picked Alabama, Duke didn’t make a scholarship offer, and Stevenson only made a few unofficial visit to Duke’s campus.
Yet, here he is again with a chance to send a hometown team home.
“Kind of crazy, crazy experience,” Stevenson, whose mother graduated from UNC, said Friday. “I’m excited for tomorrow. I’m ready for it.”
An athletic 6-foot-11 center, Stevenson has played in all 36 Alabama games this season, starting 22. He’s averaging 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He’s capable of more, such as when he scored 22 points in 20 minutes of play in Alabama’s 103-80 win at Texas on Feb. 11.
Against Clemson in last season’s West Regional final in Los Angeles, after going scoreless with four rebounds and a blocked shot against UNC, Stevenson scored 19 points when the Crimson Tide toppled Clemson 89-82 to advance to the Final Four. He made 5 of 8 3-pointers that day and excelled on defense, showing his range of skills.
This season, he hasn’t built off that sterling day. He’s had his moments, though.
On Dec. 4, Stevenson started when he returned to Chapel Hill for Alabama’s game at UNC. Stevenson scored six points, making a pair of 3-pointers, as the Crimson Tide won 94-79. Alabama coach Nate Oats, though, saw something on the defensive end that impressed him.
“He did as good a job as anybody on RJ Davis,” Oats said.
It’s that kind of game, plus Stevenson’s Elite Eight performance a year ago, and other standout nights that give Oats confidence.
“He’s capable of being one of the elite two-way guys in the country,” Oats said, “with his shooting ability, his finishing, his strength, his athleticism on offense, and then how he can guard guys.”
That perfectly describes the type of player needed to offset No. 1 Duke and the presumptive No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA draft, Cooper Flagg. The Blue Devils have length and athleticism all over the court, which is why they carry a 14-game winning streak into Saturday night’s game.
Stevenson need only look back to last year against Clemson.
“Hopefully, I can have a similar game,” he said. “I hit five 3s. I feel like I played good defense, rebounded well. Hopefully, I can do that this year, too.”
Despite the up-and-down nature of his season, Oats has not lost hope in Stevenson.
“I don’t think he’s afraid of the moment at all,” Oats said. “Has he struggled a little bit? Yeah. He’s a pretty quiet kid and he’s gone through some slumps as any players do. Shoot, some of the best NBA players go through shooting slumps. I think he’s more than capable of going 5 of 8 again or doing something great. We’re going to need him to be great.”
Oats sees his job more as hype man than anything for Stevenson. Reminding everyone that Stevenson would just now be finishing up his freshman year had he not reclassified to start college early,
“We just need to keep pumping him full of confidence,” Oats said. “He’s a kid that he doesn’t even know how good he is. When you talk to him, he has no idea. I mean, I think he should be a long-time NBA player. We’ve just got to realize he’s young and pump him full of confidence and get him going because he could be an X-factor for us for sure.”