Duke basketball guard Isaiah Evans Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Second-Year Duke Basketball Guard Exhibiting 'Tremendous Growth'

Originally posted on Duke Blue Devils on SI
By Matt Giles | Last updated Oct 31, 2025 10:00 AM ET

In what was the Duke basketball squad's toughest test of the preseason, an 83-76 exhibition road win over the No. 18-ranked Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday night, Blue Devil sophomore guard Isaiah Evans delivered multiple timely splashes from deep.

The first pulled the visitors to within four after the home team raced out to an 11-4 lead in Knoxville, and another came roughly midway through the second half to give the No. 6 Blue Devils a 69-62 edge, minutes after the Volunteers pulled within two.

But Evans' sizzles from long range come as no surprise in the eyes of Duke basketball faithful. No, the former five-star recruit out of North Meck High School (N.C.) long ago proved his sharpshooting prowess as a Blue Devil, most notably in his breakout 18-point performance in a home victory over then-No. 2 Auburn last December.

Following the win at Tennessee, it was Evans' development in other areas of his game that had fourth-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer singing the praises of arguably the group's premier momentum-changing competitor.

Scheyer's Thoughts

"Isaiah, I thought he had tremendous growth of his overall game," Scheyer noted about the 19-year-old's sparks on both ends of the floor to help Duke overcome a six-point halftime deficit in front of a raucous "Rocky Top" crowd. "His shot-making is obvious, but I think the rest of his game, five rebounds, and the way he competed, I'm really proud of him for that."

He finished with 22 points and five rebounds after knocking down four of his nine 3-point attempts and recording an 8-for-8 clip at the charity stripe. In Duke's first exhibition bout, last week's 96-71 home win over the UCF Knights, Evans tallied 14 points, three rebounds, and one block.

Last season, Isaiah Evans averaged 6.8 points off the bench for an elite batch of Blue Devils who finished with a 35-4 overall record; plus, the 6-foot-6, 180-pound silky bucket-getter scored in efficient fashion as a freshman, shooting 41.6 percent beyond the arc and 81.3 percent at the foul line.

However, his other contributions on the stat sheet were considerably less impressive, including only 1.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists in his 13.8 minutes per outing.

Now, gearing up for the official tipoff to his sophomore campaign and as a projected go-to weapon in Durham this go-round, Evans appears to be aiming for well-rounded efforts, similar to what he provided in Knoxville, much more often for the Blue Devils.

Duke's regular season begins with a neutral-site contest against the unranked Texas Longhorns in Charlotte's Spectrum Center at 8:45 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN).

This article first appeared on Duke Blue Devils on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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