Shooters Shoot: Kyan Evans finds his stroke when UNC needed it

Despite arriving as a highly touted sharpshooter from Colorado State, Kyan Evans has stumbled out of the gate in Chapel Hill.

Going into the Florida State matchup, Evans was averaging 5.8 points and 3.9 assists while shooting 37.5 percent from the field, 30 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent at the free-throw line. His December numbers only underscored the slump: 3.3 points per game on 30.7 percent shooting overall and 25 percent from beyond the arc.

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Early in the season, Evans looked the part. He opened 10-for-29 from 3-point range through the first six games, boosted by a 3-for-4 performance in a win over St. Bonaventure that pushed the Tar Heels to 6-0. But over the seven games before Tuesday night, he went just 4-for-21 from the perimeter.

Touted as one of the top perimeter shooters in the transfer portal last spring after hitting 44.6 percent from deep at Colorado State last season, Evans had done little to quiet the doubts.

The good news for North Carolina is that he took a step forward against the Seminoles and was a big part in why the Tar Heels won 79-66. Evans scored 15 points, all on a season-high five 3-pointers, on 12 attempts. The volume mattered as much as the makes. The shots were there, and this time, Evans didn’t hesitate.

His 15 points tied a season high, and the five 3s were the second most in a game in his career. He hit six from outside in an NCAA Tournament win over Memphis last March; otherwise, his previous high was four made 3s, a mark he had reached three times.

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Plenty of players mired in a shooting slump would have been reluctant to launch that many threes. Evans wasn’t. If there was one phrase to sum up his night, it was the oldest cliché in the book: shooters shoot.

“He’s a really good shooter,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said. “My conversations with him are those are good shots, and I want him to continue to take them. I want him to be confident in his shot, and I felt like he was.”

Davis also praised…

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Publish date : 2025-12-31 20:15:00

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