Erik Stevenson owns shooting struggles vs. Maryland

West Virginia’s star guard, Erik Stevenson, picked the wrong day to go cold. Thursday’s NCAA Tournament action opened up with the Mountaineers vs. Maryland in the 8/9 game with the winner set to face Alabama. WVU led for a lot of the game but ultimately allowed the Terrapins to make a late push and win the game as Stevenson just couldn’t buy a bucket.

He finished the game having made just four of his 17 shot attempts and only one of his four threes on the day — numbers well below his normal shooting percentages. Had he shot just a little bit better from the floor, WVU very well may be playing on Saturday against an Alabama team whose best player, Brandon Miller, is dealing with an injury.

After the loss, Stevenson was asked if Maryland had an exotic defensive game plan to try and limit him. He answered that they guarded him like most teams, but just put an extra emphasis on not allowing him to get open shots off loose balls or offensive rebounds.

“Nothing that any other team hasn’t done. I just struggled from the floor today,:” said Stevenson. “They did emphasize, just, just stay to my side when they were in that little zone, and they just did a great job of sending guys at me and not letting me get the easy miscellaneous looks. Loose balls and offensive rebounds and broken plays that I usually thrive in. They did a good job of finding me in those situations.”

Credit the Maryland defense. Kevin Willard had his group focused on limiting West Virginia’s star player while letting their other guards run free. Stevenson’s backcourt mate, Kedrian Johnson, wound up having a huge day, but the Terps were still able to fend off the Mountaineers since they did such a good job against Stevenson.

For Erik Stevenson, Thursday afternoon’s loss caps off a heck of a career. His five-year college hoops journey began in Wichita State, where he developed into the team’s leading scorer by year two and then transferred along with most of his teammates in the fallout of head coach Greg Marshall’s firing. Then he landed at Washington for a year, followed by a stop at South Carolina, where he was also their lead scorer for a year.

Finally, he found the most success at West Virginia, where he led the Mountaineers in scoring this season with a career-best 15.4 points per game. He was never a superstar, but a solid lead man and crafty scorer at a number of solid programs. Too bad it couldn’t end better.