Player of the week: Keenan Evans

In last two weeks, the Red Raiders basketball team played two games, losing to Seton Hall and defeating No. 22 Nevada. In both games, the best scorer on the team was Keenan Evans, who’s maintaining his preseason status of team’s best player.

Paradoxically, these two exploits came after the worst performance of the year, as against Savannah State Evans had zero points in 22 minutes, going 0/8 from the field. This happened only once in his college career, while he still was a freshman in the 2014-15 season.

Keenan had the best losing effort against the Pirates in New York, as he finished the game with 21 points, three rebounds, and six assists in 32 minutes. Unfortunately, he couldn’t help the team to maintain contact with Seton Hall in the second half, and Texas Tech had its first loss of the season.

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Things were enormously different against Nevada. Keenan had a slow start, only scoring 10 points in the first half, but he could be guarded by no opponent in the second half and in the overtime.

In 39 minutes on the field, the senior from Richardson had 32 points, career high, eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Keenan was also fouled often, as he had 19 free throws, scoring 13 of them.

If we want to find a defect, he only nailed two 3-pointers out of 11 tries, and his 29% in the season from beyond the arc is the worst of his college career.

If you have the possibility (and you have it) watch again the way Keenan destroyed the Wolf Pack in the second half and in the overtime. It was an awesome show of force, that indicates how important he is for the team. And now, with the conference schedule slowly approaching, the Red Raiders need him more than ever.