Sharpshooting guard Kyan Evans, formerly of Colorado State, has committed to North Carolina.
"LET'S DO IT!" Evans declared when announcing his move to Chapel Hill on Instagram. He's ostensibly fired up about joining North Carolina, one of college basketball's blue blood programs.
Conversely, his breakout sophomore season with the Rams and strong 2025 NCAA tournament showing caught Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis' attention.
Hubert Davis must turn lemons into lemonade with transfer portal commit Kyan Evans
Evans is the 66th-ranked player on On3's 2025 transfer portal rankings and is listed as the No. 14 point guard. He averaged 10.6 points, 3.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game in 2024-25 at Colorado State. His efforts from beyond the arc established him as one of the nation's premier three-point marksmen, boasting a 44.6 percent clip on 4.4 nightly attempts. For context, that'd be good for seventh in the country, but lack of volume prevents the All-MWC Tournament team member from qualifying for the leaderboard.
Rising junior guard Elliot Cadeau jettisoned to Michigan after entering the transfer portal on Mar. 25. 2024 five-star recruit Ian Jackson is set to take his talents elsewhere, with the NBA Draft being among the possible options. Moreover, North Carolina is also losing its second all-time leading scorer and former First All-American RJ Davis, who is out of college eligibility. In other words, Evans figures to step into a sizable role for the Tar Heels as [Hubert] Davis is tasked with reconstructing his once-dynamic backcourt.
Making the leap from mid-major difference-maker to high-major contributor is always challenging, especially for an undersized guard. But Evans was a catalyst for Colorado State's first March Madness win since 2013, proving he's up to the task.
Evans scored 23 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting, including going 6-of-9 from downtown, in 12th-seeded Colorado State's 78-70 upset victory over No. 5 seed Memphis. He was virtually unstoppable, willing the school to its highest point in over a decade. The Tar Heels will rely on him to carry that momentum into the 2026-26 campaign.
RJ (6-foot, 160 pounds), who's even smaller than Evans (6-foot-2, 175 pounds), enjoyed tremendous success under Hubert. So, the Colorado State transfer landed in an ideal spot, for anyone worried about his physical limitations.