MORGANTOWN — Erik Stevenson entered the media room Friday just as WVU men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins was finishing up and getting set to leave.
“You want me to help you up?” Stevenson asked, knowing full well he was about to get shot back at.
“You want me to knock you out?” Huggins obliged with a smile and a roll of his eyes.
It is but a glimpse of Stevenson’s comfort level, not only with Huggins, but with his own level of confidence and who he wants to be on the basketball court.
“I feel like, well I know, this is the best I’ve ever shot the ball,” Stevenson said.
That’s a gut feeling with the 6-foot-4 guard, because he admits he’s not one to sit and study box scores and stats.
“I’m not one about the analytics,” he continues. “They’ve lied about me in the past.”
There are no tall tales to be told about Stevenson’s impact with the Mountaineers (8-2) — it just took some time for his new teammates to catch on to who he was.
“I thought he was a little crazy, at first, if I’m to be honest,” WVU forward Tre Mitchell said. “I was like, ‘Why is this dude yelling all the time?’ After playing with him, you see the passion he plays with and his hunger and want to win is unmatched. He elevates everyone’s level of play.”
Stevenson is a self-admitted talker. He talks to his teammates, to the refs and to his opponents.
It’s a mind game being played at some level, to be sure, but then that gets mixed in with Stevenson’s own passion, talents and unwillingness to back down.
Somewhere along the way, Stevenson’s personality can sometimes be misinterpreted as something more than just trying to win a game, but he simply refers to it as playing on the edge.
“I have to be like that. If I’m not, then I suck,” Stevenson said. “I’ve been that way since I was three. The last time I didn’t play with this competitiveness was at Washington and I wasn’t allowed to. It was miserable for me. It was like a tiger being wrapped up in bubble wrap.”
His one season at Washington, which was his return home for the Lacey, Wash. native, was his worst year in the game.
Never again, he told himself countless times, would he hold himself back from being Erik Stevenson.
“We lost 20 games. It was disgusting,” he said. “I was never going to let a program not let me be me. If someone didn’t like who I was, I would shake their hand and move on.
“I have toned it down some, but this summer, it was my time to not only push these young guys, but to get my love back for the game.”
It’s that theme Stevenson shares with his WVU teammates, many of who have come in from other programs, as well.
Maybe they had a sort of chip on their shoulder or simply needed a fresh start. Or maybe they simply wanted one last chance to be a winner.
Whatever the case, Stevenson’s voice is being heard throughout the program.
“I keep saying it, but that’s another blessing in disguise for this team,” Mitchell said of Stevenson. “He brings a level of energy every single day that is unmatched and he raises the play of everybody.”
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