Jackson State men’s basketball will be looking for a new top gun next season as Ken Evans, the team’s leading scorer, is apparently in the NCAA transfer portal.
Ken Evans Jr. is hitting the transfer portal, according to ON3 Sports.
The 6’4 guard averaged 18.8 points per game this season for Jackson State, hitting just under 40 percent from 3-point range. He scored 20 or more points 13 times, including a career-high 37 points against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on March 7. He scored 20 points against Georgetown and Missouri and 25 points against Gonzaga.
His head coach, Mo Williams, said last week at the SWAC Tournament he’d love to keep Evans, but he knew there an NCAA transfer portal entry was possible.
“Selfishly, I’d love to coach him next year. Obviously I’m going to do my recruiting and have been doing it,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, I understand how this new world is. It’s an NIL world and, obviously, we’re in it. So he has a decision to make, obviously, and us as a University, we have a decision to make, so we’ll figure out what’s what. But absolutely I love coaching him.”
Evans is the son of Jackson State alumni who started his career in 2019-2020, when he redshirted. He averaged 4.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 0.9 steals per game as a redshirt freshman in 2020-21. He continued his trajectory as a redshirt sophomore, averaging 8.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 0.8 steals with six total blocks. His development continued as Williams arrived, as he averaged 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists,1.2 steals, and 0.5 blocks as a redshirt junior. Now it appears Williams and JSU will have to move forward without him.
“We got a good group coming back next year that he knows he’ll be a part of. So he has something to come back to,” Williams said. “We’re not in a rebuilding stage, we’re re-loading. We’re getting ready for next year. And every time we lose in this tournament, it’s adding fuel to the fire.”