BROTHER AND HOOPS HELPED DIXON SURVIVE.

Byline: Karen Crouse

MINNEAPOLIS - Long before the basketball court was Maryland guard Juan Dixon's stage, it was his salvation.

However unstable things were at home, Dixon and his older brother Phil knew the asphalt court a few blocks away was there, beckoning them.

It was their retreat from a world no child should stumble into upon returning home from school. A den of heroin and infected needles and, when Juan Dixon was a sophomore in high school, of death.

Juanita and Phil Dixon Sr. were drug addicts who succumbed to AIDS within a year of each other, leaving their eldest child Phil Jr. to finish rearing his siblings Juan, now 21, Nichole, 18, and Jermaine, 12, in their native Baltimore.

The sad truth was, Phil Jr., 26, had been pulling parental duty for years before that. He was the one who turned Juan into a stylish dresser and a bit of a neat freak.

He was the one who taught Juan how to play sports, who showed him how to drive.

He was the one who, when he walked in the door from school to find his parents home but oblivious to their surroundings, would grab a basketball, pull Juan outside and race him to the court where they'd shoot baskets for hours.

If UCLA thinks it's going to throw anything at Dixon today that he can't handle, the Bruins better think again. After all that he has seen, nothing fazes Dixon. He leads Maryland, the Bruins' NCAA Tournament second-round opponent, in scoring and steals, is second in assists and third in rebounds despite the fact he's skinnier than the basket's stanchion.

``He doesn't let little things bother him, like mistakes or coach (Gary Williams) yelling at him,'' said teammate Matt Hahn. ``He's one of the toughest people around.''

Dixon had no choice. He learned early in life that you either cope or crumble.

``I always tried to shield Juan,'' Phil Jr., a rookie policeman, said by phone from Baltimore Friday. ``I always tried to keep him from seeing different things that were going on. Sports was our escape. When there were problems at home, we could always go to the court.''

Phil was a pretty fair player. He started at point guard at Shenandoah University in West Virginia and was named a Division III All-America his senior year, after breaking Shenandoah's all-time scoring and assists record.

Though huge in the eyes of his siblings, Phil Jr., at 5-foot-9, was short in the minds of big-time basketball scouts. Juan has his brother's heart and a lot more height. He is a resplendent 6-foot-3. No less an authority than Mike Krzyzewski proclaimed the sophomore shooting guard the best player on the floor in the Terrapins' 98-87 upset of Duke last month at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Of course, Krzyzewski wasn't saying anything that people who saw Dixon's 31-point performance couldn't themselves have ascertained. It came after Dixon made the game-winning shot against Illinois, another NCAA Tournament first-round survivor, and stole the ball and a victory from North Carolina State.

Dixon is one of the most heartwarming stories of this basketball season. He is a success, but he just as easily could have wound up another depressing statistic.

Not long after Dixon's star turn at Duke, a 6-year-old boy in Flint, Mich., shot and killed a classmate. The boy's situation wasn't unlike Dixon's at that age: Both parents were drug addicts and the father had been in and out of jail.

The difference? Juan - named after his mother - had an older brother around to teach him right from wrong and an extended family that quickly stepped in whenever Juanita and Phil Sr. were strung out.

``That's why we don't mind that our story gets told,'' Phil Jr. said. ``Maybe it can help some little kids somewhere who are in a similar situation. Hopefully it can be an inspiration to them. They can see that if their parents get high and are doing things they shouldn't be doing, it doesn't mean they have to follow in their footsteps.''

When the doors to the Maryland locker room opened Friday, reporters beat a path to Dixon's cubicle. Most had questions about the Terrapins' game today against the Bruins, but one wondered if he'd mind talking about his parents.

Dixon shrugged. His expression darkened. It was as though a cloud was passing over his face. But his tone remained warm.

``It was a tough situation for us, losing our parents that way,'' he said. ``We had to mature a lot earlier than most kids.''

Like any loved one of an addict, Dixon wonders if he could have done something to help his mother kick what amounts to a disease. It's misplaced guilt, but it hurts all the same. Phil Jr. said their mother and father weren't bad parents, just sick ones.

``Not a day went by when they didn't let us know how much they loved us,'' he said. ``They were very affectionate and they never abandoned us.''

His parents' hugs is the memory Juan is trying to hold onto. But sometimes it's hard.

``He talks about it every once in a while,'' said Hahn, a senior reserve guard. ``A lot of guys, we can't relate to what he's gone through. So we just listen.''

Hahn is a coach's son. His father Bill has been an assistant at Maryland for the past 11 seasons. Matt has been clay in his dad's hands. Without those fingers shaping and molding him, the younger Hahn can't imagine what form his life would have taken.

Hahn had no idea Dixon's family life had been so grim until last year when the story first surfaced in print. ``I don't think too many people on the team knew his story up until then,'' he said.

No surprise there. Dixon's demeanor belies the demons he has seen.

He is always smiling and the glint he gives off cannot be ascribed solely to his mouthful of braces. His teammates say he is fun to be around, mainly because he acts like whichever day it is is his best day yet.

``That's what makes him even more of an amazing person,'' Hahn said. ``Someone who's gone through what he has could be mad at the world. He could become a very bitter person. But he isn't at all.''

That's because Dixon sees himself as a survivor, not a victim. His brother was his lifeline. And so was basketball. They both have carried him to a very safe place.