Stevenson Ends Shooting Slump with Career Night

West Virginia guard Erik Stevenson reached a career-high 31 points in the win Mountaineers win over No. 15 Auburn Tigers on Saturday. He shot 10-17 from the field, including 7-10 from three-point range.

The seven threes on the afternoon were more than the previous six games combined. During the six-game stretch Stevenson was shooting 26.9% from the floor and 14.7% from behind the arc.

“It’s been a long two or three weeks,” said Stevenson following the win. “I’ve been shooting the ball well in practice and I’ve been having good mental days, and come game time, it just hasn’t been dropping for me. It really has taken a toll on me because it’s my job to help the team in any way I can, and they rely on me to score and if I’m not scoring it’s hurting the team.”

Prior to his downturn, Stevenson was shooting at a clip of 51.4%, which included 44.% from three, but his confidence never wavered while shots rattled out.

To be honest, I’ve had the ‘feel’ the whole year I’ve just been in ‘Stevie Slump’ I always get one of those. Every year it seems like it happens, but I got to credit my teammates, they really helped me through it,” said Stevenson. “They’re always telling me to shoot the ball – ‘We need you to shoot it. We need you score.’ I just got to credit those guys, honestly.”

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins continued to feature despite Stevenson’s slide.

“We tried to put him in positions where he could win games for us, and he struggled,” said Huggins. “I think it was a great learning experience for him. I think he’s accepted it. He’s come out of it a much, much better player, a much better teammate as a result of it. I mean, that happens to virtually every team. It takes some time for people to find their niche, so to speak.”

Stevenson and the Mountaineers look to take the regular season series sweep over No. 11 TCU Horned Frogs Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m. EST with the action airing on ESPNU.

You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:

Facebook - @MountaineersNow

Twitter - @MountaineersNow and Christopher Hall @WVHallBilly

Add us as a preferred source on Google