Isaiah Evans, the sharpshooter from Fayetteville, lived up to his “Showtime” nickname in Duke’s 67-66 win over Florida.
It wasn’t a pretty game for Evans, who struggled from outside the entire contest – missing all seven of his attempts. But in the waning moments of the second half it all went away as he drained a three with 20 seconds remaining – lifting Duke to the win.
Despite his shooting woes Isaiah found ways of contributing elsewhere, including raking up a career high five blocks.
“I was losing my mind, Evans said. “I don’t think I’ve shot that bad ever. I just had to keep telling myself itās bigger than me. Itās not just about me. Itās about the team, so Iāve got to focus on what can I do to help the team win.ā
“Itās not always going to be your shot making,” head coach Jon Scheyer said. “I thought in the second half what he did in getting downhill, some of his passes, some of his finishes and then focusing on the defense. When they are playing him that way, that opens up the floor for everybody else. I thought it showed great growth and really good maturity.”
The Gators had the Blue Devils on their heels the entire second half – erasing a 14 point deficit to take the lead with 35 seconds remaining. Scheyer called a timeout and drew up a play.
Cameron Boozer inbounds the ball to Caleb Foster and swings back around to the top of the key. Foster passes it back to Boozer. Evans sets a pick on Boozer, the Gator defenders collapse on Boozer and he kicks the ball to a wide open Evans for the three. Bucket. Showtime.
“I gotta get to church,” Evans said when I asked him what’s going through his mind when he hit the shot. “I gotta give praise to God on that one. I have no words for that. I shot it with confidence and it went in.”
Isaiah Evans finished the game with 13 points on 5-14 shooting, five blocks, one rebound and one assist. The Blue Devils advanced to 9-0 with the win, their best open to a season under Jon Scheyer.
