After North Carolina's struggles during their west coast trip, Kyan Evans playing time was impacted the most. He averaged close to 30 minutes per game in his first 17 games. Since being moved to the bench, he's averaging around 10 minutes per game over the last three games.
His best game out of the three was against Notre Dame, where he scored 9 points with three made threes and no turnovers. Fans were hopeful that type of production could carry over to a huge road game against Virginia; however, that was not the case.
The junior guard played seven minutes against Virginia, where he did not make any of his four shot attempts and missed all three of his three-point attempts.
So what can Tar Heel fans expect out of Evans moving forward, and what is his ceiling? It's fair to say that seeing similar production from his Colorado State days is behind us, but that doesn't mean he can't still be a crucial contributor to North Carolina's success.
If Evans can gain some of his confidence back, especially in his jump shot, he could slide in and be Derek Dixon's running mate, as they have shown in the past, to complement each other well. However, the biggest problem is having two undersized guards in your backcourt. If Evans shows intelligent effort and keeps his fouling down, it could work.
The more likely scenario would be for the Missouri native to come in off the bench every game for 10-15 minutes and lead the team in assist-to-turnover ratio. UNC just needs for Evans to take care of the ball and shoot the open threes he has consistently gotten and start to make them. You can't have opponents going under on the screens when you're known as a three-point shooter. If he can start to put pressure on the defense and make shots, it could open up the Tar Heels' offense even more.
Having watched Kyan throughout his first three years, I'm not ready to close the book on his first year in Chapel Hill, and I feel like he's just one good week away from regaining his confidence and swagger. With the emergence of Dixon as their new starting point guard, the pressure should lessen as the games go on for Evans.
The Tar Heels' next game is this Saturday, January 31st, with a tipoff at 2:00 p.m. on the road against Georgia Tech. Evans should get extended time in this game and hopefully can put on one of his better performances.