Does Jawun Evans Get Enough Love in OSU Lore?

A pair of names keep popping up with all the “first since” talk the Cowboys’ 2020-21 team has garnered: Marcus Smart and Jawun Evans.

Smart is Oklahoma State’s “guy” right now in terms of pro players in his seventh season with the Boston Celtics. As for Evans, I’m not sure he gets the credit he deserves in the greater OSU lore.

A big piece of Evans being looked over probably has to do with the fact that he was in Stillwater in a time of transition. His freshman season was Travis Ford’s last year as the Cowboys’ coach. His sophomore season (and final season as a college player) was Brad Underwood’s first year. If he would’ve stuck around for a third season, it would’ve been the impressive three coaches in three years.

So, he gets lost in the shuffle a little bit, but he was dang good.

Cade Cunningham was named an All-American Tuesday, OSU’s first All-American since Evans in 2017.

Cunningham was recently named the Big 12’s Freshman of the Year, the first since Evans in 2016.

Cunningham was also the program’s first All-Big 12 First Team selection since Evans nabbed the honor in 2017.

On Friday, Cunningham will lead OSU into its first NCAA Tournament game since Evans led the Pokes into the 2017 Tournament.

In his sophomore season, Evans averaged 19.2 points and 6.4 assists a game with a stellar 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. Only Miles McBride has a better ratio in the Big 12 this season.

That sophomore season, Evans also scored 25 or more points in eight games. On back-to-back days in the Maui Invitational, Evans dropped 35 on UConn and 30 on North Carolina.

In the Cowboys’ NCAA Tournament loss against Michigan, the last Tournament game OSU has played in, Evans nearly notched a triple-double, finishing the game with 23 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds.

When Cade Cunningham scored 40 on Oklahoma in overtime this season, it was just the second-most amount of points an OSU freshman has put on the Sooners, as Evans dropped 42 in Stillwater his freshman year.

OSU coach Mike Boynton pointed out Tuesday that Evans won Big 12 Freshman of the Year despite missing a good chunk of that season. Evans played in 22 of OSU’s 32 games before a shoulder injury kept him out of the last 10 games.

That injury puts an odd alternate timeline into the multiverse. What if Evans plays the rest of that season and OSU doesn’t lose nine of its last 10 games? Does Travis Ford get canned? Do Mike Boynton or Cade Cunningham ever end up at OSU?

Another reason Evans probably isn’t talked about as much is his NBA career. To this point, Evans has played in 56 NBA games including four starts for the Clippers in his rookie season. He bounced around teams and the G League but never quite stuck. Per Eurobasket, Evans is signed with Promitheas in Greece.

I’ll leave you with this. Here are Cunningham’s, Evans’ and Smart’s career per game averages.

I’m not saying Evans is better than either one of those guys because I don’t think he is better than either. But as Cunningham keeps raking in accolades in the Cowboys’ upcoming NCAA Tournament run and as Smart keeps aggravating Eastern Conference guards, let’s put a little more respect on Evans’ name.