IRVINE — Trouble tends to sprout in the neighborhood where Keith Stewart grew up on the east side of Milwaukee. But as a youngster, Stewart's ability on the basketball court set him apart; plus he had a horde of brothers and sisters intent on keeping the baby of the family in line.

Stewart says he was not even the best basketball player among Estella Stewart's 10 children. But he was the one who became one of Milwaukee's best-known players and earned a scholarship to Purdue before coming home to Marquette after his freshman year. It was the beginning of a winding road for the talented guard, a two-time transfer whose latest stop has brought him to UC Irvine, where he has helped the Anteaters break an 11-game losing streak with back-to-back victories in the two games since he became a starter.

He comes by his ability naturally, he says. "If you saw my brothers, you'd know where I get it from," said Stewart, whose well-muscled legs give him elevation on a quick-release jump shot that can be accurate from well beyond the three-point line. "All the guys in my family play. A couple of my sisters play too. I come from a family of natural shooters."

Stewart sharpened his God-given skills on the courts near his family's home in Milwaukee, at a place the local players know as the Natatorium, for reasons that are unclear.

"Right around the corner," Stewart said. "It's a legendary place. We had a summer-league team, and our place was one of the most feared. We had a lot of gangsters up there, but we had a bunch of ballplayers too. If you come to the Natatorium trying to act tough, you suffer the consequences. You come with just basketball on your mind, and everything would be fine."

Estella Stewart says she watched as what was once a peaceful neighborhood get meaner. There was the usual violence associated with gangs and drugs. More recently, there was the discovery of the horrors confessed to by Jeffrey Dahmer, who lived two blocks from one of Stewart's brothers.

By the time Stewart was ready for high school and most of her other children were grown, Stewart's mother was on good enough footing from her job as a cable television sales representative to send him to private Messmer High School.

"Things were getting rough in the city schools," she said. "I put him there to help keep him out of trouble."

At Messmer, Stewart and his teammates won two State championships, and his renown grew.