Shamiel Stevenson forgoing senior season for pro career

After an up-and-down two seasons at Nebraska, guard Shamiel Stevenson has decided to turn the page to the next chapter of his basketball career.

The junior will forego his senior season with the Huskers and focus on pursuing a professional career.

After traveling a complicated path from Pittsburgh to Nevada and then to Lincoln, Stevenson sat out his first season at Nebraska n 2019-20 after being denied an immediate eligibility waiver by the NCAA.

The Toronto, Ontario, Canada native made his debut this year and was a fixture off the bench during non-conference play, averaging just 7.6 minutes over NU’s first five Big Ten games.

But when the Huskers returned to action after their extended COVID-19 pause, Stevenson was again a primary part of the rotation and averaged 16 minutes, 6.9 points, and 3.3 rebounds over the first nine games back.

Stevenson’s role started to fade from there, though, and he played just four minutes in NU’s regular-season finale at Northwestern before not playing at all in the Big Ten Tournament vs. Penn State.

The 6-foot-6, 245-pound guard/forward originally committed to Pitt out of high school and played in 32 games with 13 starts for the Panthers as a true freshman, averaging 8.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 23.8 minutes per game.

But following a coaching change that following offseason, he played in just four games as a sophomore before transferring to Nevada at midseason.

When Wolfpack head coach Eric Musselman left to take the head coaching job at Arkansas, Stevenson found himself back on the market once again that spring. He took one official visit to Nebraska and made his commitment shortly after.

Two years later, Stevenson will be moving on again to test his chances in the professional ranks.