Erik Stevenson was not a stranger to Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl when West Virginia met No. 15 Auburn on Saturday. Stevenson’s recruitment came down to the Mountaineers and Tigers when he was in the transfer portal last year.
“As he gleefully announced in the locker room after the game, his recruitment came down to Auburn and us,” Huggins said of Stevenson. “He made the right choice.”
Stevenson scored a career-high 31 points, including making two late three-pointers. Stevenson made seven shots from beyond the arc, while going 10 for 17 from the field.
“We did a great job guarding them, and Stevenson obviously had his best game and scored well against us,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “We tried to recruit him.”
Stevenson’s two late three-pointers helped keep West Virginia in front after Auburn had cut the deficit to just one.
“The last four minutes, we didn’t get the defensive stops that we had gotten in the other half,” Pearl said. “West Virginia only had four 2-point field goals in the second half. They had six 3s and nine 3s.”
Huggins said Stevenson’s breakout performance was coming, as it was only a matter of time before the fifth-year guard got back to his pre-Big 12 ways.
“It was a matter of time,” Huggins said. “He’s put time in, he’s really worked at his mechanics. You get to playing in pick
up ball in the off-season, you get to throwing your head back and throwing your leg out. The ideal thing is to stay perpendicular and have your hand under the ball.”
Stevenson was more thankful for his teammates ability to continue to believe in him after he has had a rough stretch as of late, although he never lost the confidence of his scoring ability.
“To be honest, I’ve had a feel the whole year, I’ve just been in a Stevie slump,” Stevenson said. “I got to credit my teammates, they really helped me through it.”
