WVU G Erik Stevenson: ‘We’re Going to Hear Our Name Called on Sunday’

KANSAS CITY — West Virginia fifth-year guard Erik Stevenson reflected on his team’s journey through the season and towards Selection Sunday.

“I’m proud of our team. We dug ourselves out of a huge hole in this league to start. We’re going to hear our name called on Sunday. It’s just a matter of when and where, who we play,” Stevenson said after the loss to Kansas. “We got to take our whole bodies, reset our minds. Now it’s a one-game season at this point.”

West Virginia has been on a roll the past two weeks, going 4-2 in the final stretch before Selection Sunday. WVU’s two losses both come to Kansas, a top-3 team in the country. The Mountaineers were 15-12 at one point and their tournament hopes looked bleak after a home loss to Texas Tech.

Now, West Virginia looks to officially return to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night for the first time in two seasons.

For Stevenson, this would be his first trip ever to the Big Dance. The fifth-year senior’s best chance was in 2020 when Wichita State finished 23-8 in the AAC. Unfortunately for Stevenson, the whole world of college basketball came to an end during conference tournament week because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

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“I was robbed of being in the tournament, so I can’t say I have tournament experience,” Stevenson said. “But you’re playing a really good team like that. There are really good teams in the tournament like that.”

West Virginia lost to Kansas for the third time this season on Thursday, 78-61. Does this game kill all the momentum and confidence WVU has built up for the past couple of weeks?

“It doesn’t,” Stevenson said. “We never lack confidence.”

Stevenson and West Virginia will find out their NCAA Tournament fate during CBS’ Selection Sunday show.