After graduation, Stuart worked at his father's electric shop and was playing basketball at the local YMCA gym, where he was discovered by a scout from Lon Morris College in Texas and eventually enrolled there.
[1] He spent two years playing basketball at the junior college and averaged 24 points and 14 rebounds his sophomore year, was named MVP of the Texas JUCO all-star game & earned honorable mention JUCO All-American honors by Street & Smith magazine.
In each of his two years as a Warhawk (known as the Indians at that time), Stuart led the Southland Conference in scoring.
They earned berths into the NCAA tournament each season, and Stuart broke the 20-point scoring mark both times in losing causes to the Harold Miner-led USC Trojans in the 1992 tourney and the Acie Earl-led Iowa Hawkeyes in 1993, respectively.
One reporter even called Stuart the conference's most dominating player since Karl Malone.