Freshman Evans gives UVa depth

If Jontel “Bub” Evans sees significant playing time this season, he’ll have his father, Walter Evans, and a guy named Howard Champblee to thank. They were Evans’ AAU coaches when he first started getting serious about basketball at the age of 10.
“They put it into our minds at a very young age that you have to stop people,” said Evans, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound point guard from Hampton. “You have to play defense.”
When you consider that doing so is one of the fastest routes for a freshman player to earn playing time, Evans could be in good shape as he begins his college career. Factor in that he’ll be playing for one of the most defensive-minded coaches in the country in Tony Bennett, and he could be in excellent shape.
After practice on Thursday, Bennett said that Evans — a former high school gridiron star who had scholarship offers from the likes of N.C. State — is one of the team’s better on-the-ball defenders.
“He’s a bulldog on the ball,” Bennett said. “He’s a real hard worker. He has a mindset to get after it.
“He’s so strong. You can see the explosiveness from his
football days. He was probably a heck of a running back when he played.”
Added Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski: “He’s really quick laterally. You can tell he was a football player in high school. He definitely can play some good defense and is going to be a contributor this year.”
Bennett said that he has not decided on a definite rotation yet, although he confessed to having a pretty good idea of who will be in his starting lineup for next Friday’s season opener versus Longwood.
With Calvin Baker (knee) out of action for at least a couple of weeks, Evans might have the chance to see some early playing time.
“I think my [defense] will get me minutes because coach Bennett is real big on defense,” Evans said, “and that’s my strength.”
While Evans’ defense looks to be up to ACC snuff, his offense is still clearly a work in progress.
Over the summer, the coaching staff helped him reconfigure his shot. Evans had been shooting his jumper on the way down instead of the way up.
“When I came here at the beginning of the summer, my shot was terrible…but they worked with me throughout the whole summer to make me feel comfortable with my shot and
everything’s getting better,” said Evans, who played AAU ball with fellow freshman Tristan Spurlock before getting to Virginia. “It has a long ways to go, but it’s gotten a lot better.”
Dunks
Virginia has a closed-door scrimmage with St. John’s on Sunday…Sophomore Assane Sene missed practice for “personal reasons,” according to Bennett…Senior Calvin Baker’s knee appears to be improving. “I hope that thing will be OK,” Bennett said. “He’s been moving around pretty good. I think he could have tried to gut through it, but who knows what complications would have occurred.”