The Player Speaks: Stevenson is officially signed which means we have an official press release and Stevenson’s JUCO head coach gushed about what Stevenson can do:

“Having coached at the collegiate level for over 20 years now, I have had the opportunity to coach a lot of different players and I can tell you that Niem is one of, if not the best, that I have ever been privileged to coach,” Seward County Coach Bryan Zollinger said. “More than just his talents on game day, Niem is a fun kid to be around and knows when to laugh and joke and when it is time to get down to business. He is a genuine person and is a nose to the grindstone worker. He is very coachable and isn’t afraid to listen despite his immense talents. He has done everything that we have asked him to do in his three years here, and it has helped get him to this point. Knowing him as a person, Niem will do the same thing at Texas Tech and continue to be successful and an important part of the team there in Lubbock.”

RELATED: JUCO Shooting Guard Niem Stevenson Commits to Texas Tech

Scouting Report: I love Stevenson’s game and his ability to score. When Texas Tech signs JUCO players, I tend to really look at shooting percentage. The scoring doesn’t always translate, which there’s no reason why it should because the players are better, but what does tend to translate is shooting percentage. Typically, if you’re a bad shooter while playing JUCO ball, you’re probably going to be the same shooter at Division I. In looking at Stevenson’s stats at Seward you can see that he shoots 51.1%, which is the same shooting percentage as Justin Gray, but the difference is that Stevenson is taking volume shots as a JUCO and as the best player on his team. Of all the things that Stevenson does, I think that shooting percentage will translate and you’ll see a guy that can just flat-out score.

The best things about Stevenson’s game is his knack for scoring anywhere on the floor. There’s something a bit off about his outside shot, maybe it’s that he’s not getting a lot of height on his jump shot, but he gets that shot off very quickly. One other huge note. Stevenson shot 295 free throws. By himself. The highest number of free throws shot on last year’s team was 127 by Keenan Evans. Good scorers can get to the line. Let’s hope that trend continues.

Niem, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!