DURHAM, N.C. — Isaiah Evans simply could not hit from outdoors, time and time once more watching 3-point photographs rattle out as fourth-ranked Duke was locked in a second-half combat with reigning nationwide champion Florida.
That’s, till it was time to take the largest shot of the night time.
“That is my job, I’ve obtained to stay it,” Evans stated.
The slim sophomore hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 19.7 seconds left within the Blue Devils’ 67-66 victory over the Fifteenth-ranked Gators on Tuesday night time. It got here with Evans sitting at 0-for-7 from past the arc, a wrestle in a usually dependable factor of his recreation together with his fast launch and floor-stretching vary.
“I imply, it was arduous,” Evans stated. “I do know y’all had seen I used to be shedding my thoughts. I am not going to lie. I do not suppose I had shot that dangerous in a very long time. I simply needed to hold telling myself, ‘It is larger than me, it isn’t nearly me, it is concerning the group.’ So I needed to give attention to what can I do to assist the group win.”
Evans completed with 13 factors on 5-for-14 capturing, with most of his manufacturing coming within the second half when he scored off feeds as he lower arduous to the basket. The 6-foot-6 wing additionally was lively together with his fingers on the defensive finish, posting an unlikely profession excessive of 5 blocked photographs.
It was a pleasant bump for a participant in a beginning position after largely working down-the-rotation minutes as a freshman reserve on final 12 months’s star-laden group that reached the Remaining 4.
He got here into this one averaging 12.5 factors, however he was coming off a capturing wrestle (3-for-10) in a Thanksgiving Day win in opposition to a ranked Arkansas group in Chicago.
“It is totally different from a scouting-report perspective,” coach Jon Scheyer stated of Evans going through elevated defensive consideration.
“They did an excellent job of hanging powerful with him, attempting to make life tough. It is not all the time going to be your shot-making. … I believed it confirmed nice development, actually good maturity, and we’ll proceed to determine methods to assist him.”
Finally, although, Scheyer trusts that Evans will come by means of. And man, did he ever.
Boogie Fland‘s 3-pointer pushed Florida to a 66-64 lead within the ultimate minute on an evening when the Gators had trailed by 15. Duke known as a timeout and ran a play that put the ball within the fingers of 6-9 freshman star Cameron Boozer (29 factors) on the high of the arc. Evans ran over as if to set a display on huge man Rueben Chinyelu with City Klavzar chasing Evans, although Evans slipped the display and popped to the opposite aspect because the Gators defenders hedged to stick with Boozer.
Boozer whipped the ball to Evans on the left wing close to the Duke bench for the clear look, which despatched Cameron Indoor Stadium into an ear-splitting frenzy.
“I am pondering I’ve obtained to get to church,” Evans stated. “I’ve obtained to provide reward to God on that one. I’ve no phrases for that. I shot it with confidence and it went in.”
That proved to be the ultimate scoring margin. Florida turned the ball over on the following possession, after which was unable to get off a shot on a ultimate desperation inbounds heave from the far baseline to finish it.
“We did a terrific job on Evans,” Florida coach Todd Golden stated. “He solely made one 3. Sadly, it was the final one of many night time.”
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