{"id":513033,"date":"2026-01-03T02:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T02:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/513033\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T02:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T02:33:11","slug":"stay-aggressive-hubert-davis-unc-players-pushing-kyan-evans-to-keep-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/513033\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Stay Aggressive’ – Hubert Davis, UNC Players Pushing Kyan Evans to Keep Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 Leading up to Tuesday night, it had been over a calendar month since Kyan Evans<\/a> had last scored in double figures.\u00a0North Carolina\u2019s starting point guard finished with 15 points in the conference-opening victory over Florida State, tying his season-high from the season opener against Central Arkansas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

>>>\u00a0Join today to get 50% off a new subscription to Inside Carolina!<\/a>\u00a0<<<<\/p>\n

The Colorado State transfer did his damage exclusively from beyond the arc, shooting 5-of-12 from 3-point range, season-highs in both makes and attempts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my teammates are doing a good job of finding me, and I think I\u2019m finding shots,\u201d Evans said after the win. \u201cI\u2019ve just got to knock them down\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming to Chapel Hill with the reputation of a 3-point marksman, the Kansas City native has been mostly quiet offensively in his first season as a Tar Heel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last season in Fort Collins, Evans shot 44.6 percent from deep, averaging 10.6 points per game. This season in Chapel Hill, Evans is hitting at a 32.3 percent clip through 14 games while averaging 6.4 points per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really good shooter, and you know, my conversations with him are, those are good shots, and I want him to continue to take it,\u201d Hubert Davis<\/a> said. \u201cI want him to be confident in his shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before his outburst against Florida State, Evans averaged 3.3 points per game across the Tar Heels\u2019 six December contests, shooting 4-for-16 from three-point range. That included three total points on 1-for-5 shooting in the last two games (Ohio State, ECU).<\/p>\n

With the emergence of Derek Dixon as a capable point guard, questions about Evans\u2019 confidence naturally surfaced, but Tuesday\u2019s performance suggested otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of everybody just talking to me, just letting me know that they\u2019re with me and they want me to stay aggressive,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised if Evans turns it around, however, as streaky shooting was also a theme last season. Over Colorado State\u2019s first 10 games, he shot 9-for-33 from three-point range (27%) before finishing the season 61-for-124 (49%) the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

North Carolina doesn\u2019t need Evans to be a superhero, only to continue hitting \u201csingles,\u201d as Hubert Davis has often emphasized. According to KenPom, Evans\u2019 assist rate sits at 24.4 \u2014 an uptick from 20.3 last season and a mark that would have ranked second on UNC a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the things for him is also moving him off the ball and using his ability to shoot the basketball, make plays coming off of flares, wide pins \u2014 being able to mix that up for him or put them even more in a better situation to be successful and consistent on offensive end,\u201d Davis said on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To date, this UNC team \u2014 shooting 32.9 percent from three as a unit \u2014 hasn\u2019t been beating many opponents from deep, but if Evans can rediscover the groove he found last season, it gives defenses something else to consider beyond the Tar Heels\u2019 elite frontcourt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 Leading up to Tuesday night, it had been over a calendar month since Kyan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,4760],"class_list":{"0":"post-513033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-kyan-evans-23-staley"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115828831634814690","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}