Evans continues to be rock solid
He isn’t a marquee player for the Utah State University basketball team, but sophomore Chad Evans has stepped up his game to fill a starting role for the Aggies.
“Chad always plays hard and gives everything he’s got,” Head Coach Stew Morrill said.
Thursday night against the University of California, Irvine, Evans finished the game with 10 points and pulled down four rebounds. Three of Evans’ rebounds came on the offensive end. Evans also added one assist and one steal.
At halftime, Evans led the Aggies with 9 points on four-of-four shooting and grabbed three rebounds.
“I felt pretty good tonight, in the first half especially,” Evans said. “My shots felt good. Going in at halftime I felt really confident.”
For the season he averages 7.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Evans’ contributions did not all show up in the stats though. Playing 32 minutes in the game, Evans scrambled for loose balls and came up with big plays.
Evans said he felt like he was playing more aggressive in the game and a big part of that was the zone defense Irvine was playing.
“[The zone] let me roam and get my hands on some of the long boards,” Evans said.
Near the end of the first half the Anteaters extended their lead to 28-21 before Evans grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a layup.
Two possessions later, Evans hit a three pointer to cut the Anteater lead to 33-28.
On Utah State’s last possession of the half, Evans once again scored on a put-back to cut the Irvine lead to 37-33.
Evans took over the starting spot after forward Toraino Johnson was injured.
Now that Johnson has returned from his injury, Evans said there is competition for playing time.
“No matter what happens, I know Toraino is a great player and I’m not going to hang my head if he gets more playing time,” Evans said. “I’m going to go out and do what I’ve done all year. Hopefully both of us can play about the same amount and be just as
effective.”