Erik Stevenson knows he’s closer to the end of his college basketball career than he is the beginning.
The guard is in his fourth year of school and at his third program, landing at South Carolina after previous stops at Wichita State and Washington, and understands his time playing collegiately is ticking down.
But—with a fresh start this year for the Gamecocks—he doesn’t feel any pressure on himself to perform compared to years past with his confidence higher than it’s been.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a whole lot of pressure; urgency, maybe. It’s funny, when I got into college I had more pressure on me to perform, I feel like. Now I know how to perform and it’s a matter of being mentally confident to do it everyday,” Stevenson said.
“The ups and downs of college took a toll on me a little bit losing confidence and lacking confidence in my abilities. That’s what hindered me the most.”
It was a tough 2020 for Stevenson who, coming off a year where he averaged 11.1 points and 4.7 rebounds for a 23-win Wichita State team, saw his numbers slide some at Washington.
He averaged 9.3 points and 3.6 rebounds and all of his shooting numbers dipped as well.
With his confidence up now, Stevenson is hoping to get back to his performance he had from 2019-20 and impact the offense similar in principles to what he played in at Wichita
“We have a little more freedom here, though, on the offensive end than I did at Wichita. It’s very structured but when you’re in that structure you can play your game, especially if you’ve proven it to Frank. He gets mad when I don’t shoot,” he said.
“I’ve proven to Frank I’m a shot-maker, a shot taker and a playmaker. I’ve proved myself to Frank I think and have a good relationship with the coaches and think I have a green light to shoot, which is all you can ask for.”
When he committed over the summer—over BYU and Butler—he talked about being used similar to AJ Lawson as someone who can come off screens and knock down shots, and he’ll do that with potentially some point guard mixed in as well.
“I’d say 80 percent of the time I’m off the ball and probably 20 or maybe 30 percent of the time I’m running the point in case of foul trouble or if they want me to play the one. That helps me get the timing down in the offense and what I have to know when I’m the PG and when I’m not,” Stevenson said. “It’s been smooth. I’m handling the pressure and making decisions.”
Stevenson is one of a big incoming class of transfers needing to come together trying to get South Carolina back over .500 after a rough 2020 season.
He’s hoping at South Carolina he’s able to rekindle some of what he did at Wichita State and it comes from playing freer, something he’s doing right now as the season approaches.
“Playing free offensively, especially for an offensive threat and a guy who can make shots or make plays, is about playing free mentally. We have a structure we play through but in that structure you know you can make plays out of that in certain spots without being robotic,” he said.
“Playing free requires a lot of confidence, a lot of trust in yourself and a lot of trust in the coaching staff that they know you’re a good player and can make plays. More importantly they know you’re going to make mistakes and if you make a mistake they’re not going to take that freedom away from you.”
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