HOUSTON—From the moment he got off the team plane, Justise Winslow has been the center of attention in his hometown.
That was before he took over the team's Instagram account or celebrated his 19th birthday and long before his monstrous 21-point, 10-rebound performance in Duke's 63-57 Sweet 16 victory against Utah. The Winslow family has long been basketball royalty in the city of H-town, ever since Justise's father, Rickie Winslow, starred as a member of Houston's Phi Slamma Jama, which appeared in the 1983 national championship game.
Justise Winslow is just the latest in the bloodline.
Since arriving in his hometown, Winslow has tried his best to deflect a barrage of homecoming questions from the media. Answer after answer, he calls Duke's journey to Houston "a business trip."
But when asked for the umpteenth time Saturday about stepping out of his father's shadow in his hometown, Winslow tore up the script and gave his most honest answer yet—this is about his team.
"I never thought of this as my moment, you know, to show my family who I am or anything like that," Winslow said. "It's Duke's moment. It's our moment to do something special, and so that's what we want to do here in Houston is get another win and hopefully get to Indianapolis."
Although Winslow is doing his best to share the spotlight off the court, he couldn't have looked more comfortable stepping under the bright lights of NRG Stadium. Just minutes into Duke's South Regional semifinal matchup against Utah, Winslow made the type of electrifying play Blue Devil fans have come to expect from the freshman, chasing down guard Delon Wright for an emphatic block.
After knocking down his second of back-to-back 3-pointers to give Duke a 41-32 lead midway through the second half, Winslow took a page out of Houston Rockets guard James Harden's book and mimicked feeding himself in celebration—even if it came at the expense of Winslow's man, Utah forward Brekkott Chapman, beating him down the floor for an easy layup.
Don't let his answers from the podium fool you. Winslow is embracing the spotlight in Houston—but he isn't being a distraction in the process.
Even before he arrived at Duke, Winslow was heralded as the Blue Devils' biggest personality in the team's star-studded freshman class. His Twitter commentary of last year's Duke games was one joke after the other.
Off the court, Winslow has no problem hanging loose.
"When we’re not in a film session preparing, definitely you can just soak it up and have fun," Winslow said. "At the end of the day we’re just college kids and we like to joke around."
Playing in front of nearly 100 family and friends who watched him mature into a 19-year-old who is poised to be an NBA lottery pick this summer, Winslow is finally letting his laugh-generating antics show on the hardwood as well. And with the performances he has turned in during this year's NCAA tournament, you won't hear any of his Duke teammates complaining.
"It doesn't have to be serious all the time," Winslow said. "There's a time and a place for everything."
It appears that time is now. And if Winslow keeps it up, that place could be the Final Four in Indianapolis.
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