KOCH: Evans Aims to Take Next Step from Good to Great

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CINCINNATI GAME NOTES

EMBRY-RIDDLE (0-0) vs. CINCINNATI (0-0) [EXHIBITION]
GAME AT A GLANCE
SERIES INFO: First Meeting
COACHES: Mick Cronin is in his 12th season at Cincinnati (237-135); 15th season overall (306-159)
Steve Ridder is in his 29th season at Embry-Riddle (672-251); 29th season overall (672-251)
AP/USA TODAY RANKINGS (PRESEASON): Cincinnati (12/13); Embry-Riddle (--)
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By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com

Even as a wide-eyed freshman, University of Cincinnati swingman Jacob Evans III wasn't afraid to shoot in pressure situations.
    
Evans didn't necessarily look for those shots, but he didn't shy away from them either. He never had before and he saw no reason to start just because he was in college.

"I just came in and tried to be the same Jacob I've been since coming up through high school," Evans said. "I've never been scared to shoot with the game on the line, nor will I ever be. That's just how I am."

With the 2017-18 season about to begin, Evans says he's more mature and smarter, "an overall better basketball player" than he was during his first two years at UC. He has emerged as one of the key players on a UC basketball team that will begin the season ranked 12th nationally in the Associated Press pre-season media poll and is one of 20 players nationally who was named to the Julius Erving Small Forward Award Watch List for this season. 

He scored only two points and took only two shots in the Bearcats' 89-61 exhibition victory over Division II Bellarmine last Wednesday at Louisville's Freedom Hall, but figures to be a much bigger part of the offense when the regular season begins on Nov. 10 against Savannah State.

UC will play its second and final exhibition game Sunday at 2 p.m. at BB&T Arena against Embry-Riddle, another D-II school, from Daytona Beach, Fla. 
 
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound junior from Baton Rouge, La., started all 36 games last year for UC, averaging 13.5 points – which led the team – and 4.2 rebounds. He shot 47.3 percent from the field, 41.8 percent from long range and 73.2 percent from the free throw line. Now he says he's ready to take the next step. As he put it, he wants to go "from being a good player to a great player."

There's been a lot of talk about Evans becoming the player the Bearcats rely on this season when the game is on the line, but UC coach Mick Cronin says Evans isn't the only player who can fill that role on a team that includes Kyle Washington, Gary Clark, Jarron Cumberland and newcomer Cane Broome.

"I talk to him just about being more productive," Cronin said. "He's going to have the ball in his hands more with Troy (Caupain) gone. He's scored a lot of points for us. It's going to be interesting to see how good we can get him as far as a playmaker from the top. My thing for him would be more free throws and more assists

"Points-wise, he's only going to go up so much per game. The more important thing is going to be getting him creating off the dribble and then creating assists for other people. He did it in high school,  but he hasn't really had to do it in college. I'd love him to get where he's not just settling for when Gary and Kyle kick it out to him."

Of course Evans wants the ball in his hands when the Bearcats need a basket, but he says his teammates are just as capable of coming through in crunch time as he is. He's keenly aware that this is far from a one-man show.

But when Evans is the one being called on to rise to the occasion, there's nothing he loves more. Because he's so athletic and the ball will be in his hands so much, that could be a frequent occurrence this season.

"I feel like he's wanted me to be in that type of role since my sophomore year," Evans said of Cronin. "I'm going to embrace it. I'm going to take it full on like a challenge. I love challenges. I feel like if I want to make it to the next level I have to be that guy. You've got to grow in your game and your confidence and just have the swagger to be able to knock down those shots or even to take those shots.

"I'd rather be the one to take the big shot and miss it rather than give it up and say, 'Aw man, what if I had made it?' I don't like the what-ifs. If I take it and I miss it, I'll live with it. If I take it and I make it, I'll live with that also. I feel like that builds mental toughness."

Evans scored 25 points against Marshall last year in the Bearcats' 93-91 win and made a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. When UC upset No. 19 Iowa State, 55-54, on the road, he made two free throws with 20 seconds left to provide what proved to be the winning points. 

But if he had misfired in those situations, he said, he could have handled that too. He's been there before. 

"You're upset," he said. "You're down that you missed it, but if it was a good shot and you felt comfortable taking it and just missed it, you have to remember that you've probably put in thousands of reps in your life to make and take those shots. So you can't get down on yourself. I feel like I put in the work to make the shots that I take. I know that if I'm off it's just a little adjustment, so if I miss one, I know I'm gonna make the next one. I'm not gonna miss two of them."

In the end, Evans said, it doesn't matter who the hero is for the Bearcats this year. All that really matters is how many games they win and ultimately, how far they go in the NCAA Tournament.

"It's a rich tradition here to go to the tournament, Evans said. "But that's not good enough for us anymore just to go. That wasn't the plan last year and it's not going to be the plan this year just to get into the tournament. We actually want to advance. Let's go see what the second weekend feels like. Let's go see how far we can go. Let's try to go to the Elite Eight, the Sweet 16, maybe a Final Four. That's our goal here."

Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.