Trevon Bluiett steps up his game in second halves

After Trevon dropped a cool 13 points on 5-6/0-0/3-3 shooting in the second half against DePaul to help Xavier move to 19-2, we were bombarded with a request on Twitter regarding Trevon's first half v. second half performances. It's an understandable query, as Tre has seemed to ease his way into games before taking over in the second half.

First of all, we need to set a baseline expectation. Trevon is putting up a game line of 15.4/6.6/2.2, so you would expect an average half to see him post about 7.7/3.3/1.1. He's shooting .427/.387/.823 on the year, so there's no reason to expect that he would be doing anything differently in the average half.

The numbers bear out the general feeling. Trevon has scored 144 points and grabbed 76 boards in 329 first half minutes this year; in second halves he has played 304 minutes, grabbed 62 rebounds, and scored 181 points. His shooting line also ticks up as the game wears on. He shoots .400/.328/.839 in first halves and .452/.444/.813 in second halves. To put it in the most simple terms possible, first half Trevon would put up a full game line of 13.7/7.2/2.0 while his second half counterpart would post 17.2/5.9/2.4.

The difference is even more stark in Big East play. In conference, Trevon's first half line extrapolates to 14.0/5.6/2.9 on .385/.296/.929 shooting while his second half line would be 19.1/4.7/2.2 on .481/.321/.871 shooting. In other words, at the half Trevon switches from playing like a first team all-conference contender to playing like the conference player of the year. He has scored in double figures in just two first halves in conference, but he has posted double digit scoring in six of his nine conference games, including each of the last five.

There are any number of reasons why this could be happening. Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe Tre just likes to wait to grow into the game. Maybe the whisker of space his jumper needs is afforded by the slightly more tired legs of second half defenders. Maybe he's just lulling defenses to sleep before going on and getting his. Whatever the case, there's no question that Second Half Trevon is becoming a thing. Sitting at 19-2 and 7-2 in conference, you'd hardly ask your top scorer to change at this point.