Wilmington, NC - It's a late November evening as T.J. Evans begins suiting up for Cape Fear Community College's men's basketball game against S.C. Sports Academy.

It's only the eighth contest of his freshman season, but Evans has found out the heightened competition at the junior college level is much different than the teams he played against during his time at Apex High School.

He enters the game averaging five points on 26 percent shooting from the field, a humbling experience for the Most Outstanding Player of the 2014 NCHSAA Class 4A state championship game.

A three-year starter at Apex, Evans had experienced immediate success when he first stepped on the court in high school. The Minnesota native averaged 20 points per game each of his three seasons on varsity, garnering his conference's player of the year award after each campaign.

Fast forward eight months, and those accolades seems like a distant memory.

T.J. Evans has to prove himself again.

The measuring stick

With college recruitment in any sport, measurables account for just as much, if not more, than on-court production.

Such was the case with Evans. Entering his final year at Apex, he had piqued interest throughout the state, and beyond. College coaches started attending practice. Scouts started looking at him a little harder.

The interest was there, but the offers were not.

"He was a scorer for us and he's 6-foot," said Apex coach David Neal. "He didn't play a whole lot of point guard for us, and mostly Division I coaches asked me if he could play the point. I told all of them, 'Yes, I think he could play whatever they wanted him to play because he's a player.'"

Evans specialized at the shooting guard position in high school. At the Division I level, most productive shooting guards stand at least 6-foot-4. Concerns over Evans' ability to get his shot off with that length guarding him gave coaches reason to pause.

While the high-level interest waned, Evans' performance did not. The undersized guard's performance on the court remained consistent, attracting looks from smaller schools along with it.

CFCC, in the midst of a season that would lead to a trip to the national junior college tournament, set its sights on Evans once it became clear a Division I offer would not happen.

Head coach Ryan Mantlo and assistant John Lattimore made several visits to Apex. With the promise of helping him grow, Mantlo secured Evans' commitment in late June.

The commitment, while not in his initial plans, represented a bit of closure.

"They knew I'd come here for one year, and they'd develop me to the best of my ability and, from there, the sky is the limit," Evans said. "I felt like I could come in here, do what I need to do, and not just go to a school that was my only option. That's what they told me that if I come here for a year, I'd truly be able to pick where I want to go."

In an effort to get a head start on his goal of becoming more of a combo guard, Evans used the NC Coaches Association East-West game in July as a means of trying to display his point guard abilities.

His transition got off to a rocky start, though, with a 1-for-7 performance from the field for only four points.

The learning curve

As the buzzer sounds on Cape Fear's 116-59 victory over S.C. Sports Academy, there's a sense of cautious optimism for Evans.

The freshman has filled the stat sheet, finishing with a game-high 36 points on 11-for-20 shooting, including an 8-for-12 performance from behind the 3-point line, while also adding eight rebounds and three steals.

The game was a needed reinforcement of Evans' talents, at least on the scoring side of things. If he wants to prove to college scouts he can command an offense successfully, however, he knows he'll have to start adding aspects of a point guard into his game.

"In order for me to get to where I want, I'm going to have to show the recruiters that I can play the one, play it well, handle the ball well and handle pressure, be able to get my teammates involved," said Evans, who has a 10-to-11 turnover-to-assist ratio heading into Wednesday's game with Harcum College at Brunswick's Holiday Classic.

"That's one thing I wasn't so good at in high school is getting my teammates involved, so I'm working on that here."

That constant fluctuation in ball-handling is what Evans will need to limit as the season progresses.

"He came to me and said, 'Coach, I'm with you. I want to play the combo instead of just the one,'" Mantlo said. "His progression has been huge. We haven't had a full team since (Nov. 19), and we haven't lost with a full team. I think his progression has been so big in that he's finding different ways to score and he's finding his spots."

For someone that's consistently performed above his measurables on the basketball court, Evans is confident he'll be where he wants to become end of the season.

"I still got a long ways, lot of things to do, individually for me and team-wise, but I still think we're on the right track," Evans said. "I still have a lot of imperfections that I need to smoothen up, but it's getting there.

"It's a lot better than what it was, so hopefully I just keep going up."

Courtesy of McLeod Brown
Star News
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