Stevenson heats back up, lifts WVU to win over Auburn

“It felt like I was shooting the ball in the ocean,” smiled Stevenson. “I knew it was going to be that kind of day when, late in the shot clock in the first half, Tre (Mitchell) had the ball on the right wing. I came up, ghosted a screen and he threw it to me. I threw it up, and it went in. I knew it was going to be one of those days when that happened.

“Credit to my teammates because they found me,” he added. “Coach (Bob Huggins) saw the ball go in and he instilled confidence in me as well. He kept drawing up plays for me, and they kept dropping.”

It was the first 30+ point performance in Stevenson’s five seasons of college basketball, which have been split between Wichita State, Washington, South Carolina and now West Virginia.

“Even in timeouts, I told Coach, ‘Run something for Erik,’” said senior point guard Kedrian Johnson, who finished with seven points and a game-high six assists. “When he’s making shots, he’s very hard to guard. I always look for him when he’s making shots. Even when he’s not making shots, I try to get him going.”

The Mountaineers enjoyed perhaps their best 20 minutes of basketball this season in running out to a 45-29 lead over the Tigers by halftime.

Stevenson was a big part of that hot start.

In his previous six games, the WVU guard had made a mere 18 of 67 field-goal tries (26.9%), which included 5 of 34 from 3-point range (14.7%) while averaging 10.5 points per game compared to his 14.1 average in the season’s first 14 contests. But the senior was blistering hot in the first half Saturday, ripping the nets for 18 points while making six of nine field goals and 3 of 4 threes.

“It had been a long two, three weeks, whatever it’s been,” acknowledged Stevenson. “I’ve just been in a Stevie slump. I always get one of those every year, it seems.

“I’ve been shooting the ball well in practice and having good mental days, but it just hasn’t been dropping for me in games.

“It had been taking a toll on me because it’s my job to help the team any way I can. They rely on me to score, and if I’m not scoring, it hurts the team. It had been hurting me, too, to be honest.”

Stevenson followed up his 18 first-half points with 13 more in the second, converting 4 of 6 attempts from three in the last 20 minutes.

The Mountaineers needed every one of his points because Auburn put on a furious second-half charge. Trailing by 16 at halftime and even by 10 with 11:30 left, the Tigers sliced WVU’s advantage to just one on several occasions in the final five minutes. The visitors could never quite draw even, though, missing free throws a couple of times with chances to tie the game. Twice Stevenson followed up and nailed threes in the last few minutes to give West Virginia breathing room when Auburn was within one.

“It was just going in today like it’s supposed to go in,” smirked Stevenson, who was joined in the double-figure scoring department by WVU center Jimmy Bell, who had 15 points to go along with seven rebounds. “I don’t get a whole lot of space in a whole lot of games. They didn’t give me much space today. It seems like when I’m open is when I miss the most, because I’m surprised to be so open.”

After WVU made 19 of its first 20 foul shots as a team, Johnson and Stevenson combined to miss 3 of 5 from the line in the final 40 seconds, leaving the door cracked for the Tigers. Guard Wendell Green missed a potential game-tying trey at the end, though, allowing the 14,116 in the WVU Coliseum to burst into celebration.

“As he gleefully announced in the locker room after the game, (Stevenson’s) recruitment came down to Auburn and us,” recalled Huggins of gaining the transfer last summer. “He made the right choice.”

It was certainly the right choice for West Virginia as well, especially on this day.

The victory over the Tigers was just the third for WVU in its 10 SEC/Big 12 Challenges. It also improved the Mountaineers’ overall record this year to 13-8 while Auburn fell to 16-5.

“We needed this one bad. Looking at our record, we need every win we can get,” noted Johnson. “I think this is a great win moving on to TCU Tuesday.”

Having defeated the No. 11 Horned Frogs (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) on Jan. 16 in Morgantown, West Virginia (13-8, 2-6) will try to repeat the feat 12 days later in Fort Worth (9 p.m., ESPNU).