RENO - Jerry Evans Jr. thinks back on his days at Leuzinger High School in Southern California and smiles.
"I was Mr. Get It Done," the Nevada Wolf Pack sophomore guard said. "I was a scorer in high school. I shot all the shots."
Defense was, well, something his teammates took care of while he waited for them to pass him the ball.
"Did I play defense?" Evans said. "No. Maybe a little bit. But not really."
That all changed in the summer of 2009, after he graduated from Leuzinger High and was playing in a summer tournament in Southern California.
"That's when I felt like I had to learn how to play defense," said Evans, who will take on the Fresno State Bulldogs at Lawlor Events Center with the rest of his Wolf Pack teammates today (7:05 p.m.). "Paul George (former Fresno State forward now with the NBA's Indiana Pacers) gave me buckets. I was fresh out of high school and he was at Fresno State.
"Yeah, that was the day it all changed for me. I remember that. I just said, 'This is what I'm going to have to guard in college?'"
George was Mr. Get It Done's welcome to big-time college basketball.
"He was remarkable," Evans said, shaking his head. "He was giving me, wow, I don't even want to talk about that."
Evans averaged 15.3 points a game his senior year for the Leuzinger Olympians. The school, which has produced, among others, former Major League Baseball star George Foster, football cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and basketball point guard Russell Westbrook, got its unique nickname because it opened about the same time the 1932 Summer Olympics were being held in Los Angeles.
At 6-foot-7, 180 pounds in high school, college recruiting services began comparing him to former UNLV and NBA star Stacey Augmon, one of the most versatile players in college basketball and throughout his 15-year career in the NBA which ended in 2006.
"When we recruited (Evans), we looked at him as a Mo Charlo, Jermaine Washington type," Pack coach David Carter said, referring to a pair of underrated do-it-all former Pack stars of the NCAA Tournament years from 2004-07. "Those types of guys are very important. They don't always lead you in scoring or rebounding but they have a lot of stats across the board. He rebounds, blocks shots, shoots free throws and gets some points. He can play two or three positions."
Evans, who sat out the 2009-10 season, has become Mr. Do The Dirty Work for the Wolf Pack the past two seasons. As a red-shirt freshman a year ago, the then 6-8, 187-pound, long-armed Evans averaged 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 31 games and 20 starts for the 13-19 Wolf Pack.
"Last year his body, just being physically weak, wasn't really able to maintain a 32-game season," Carter said.
Last year, for Evans, was one huge Paul George moment.
Over his final six games and 127 minutes combined in 2010-11, Evans scored a mere 21 total points with three steals, two blocks and two assists. In two of those games, in 31 minutes combined against Idaho and New Mexico State, he failed to score a single point.
"I think he broke down as the year went along," Carter said.
Mr. Get It Done is getting it done at both ends of the floor this year. He is averaging 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds. He has already surpassed his numbers of last year for the 15-3 Wolf Pack in assists (18 this year compared to 10 last year), blocks (14-9) and steals (17-12) in 132 fewer minutes.
"He's improved his game all over," senior Dario Hunt said. "His shooting, his offense, his rebounding, his defense. Being put in the fire his freshman year was a really good thing for him because he learned right away what it takes. He's been able to develop faster than he would if he was just sitting and watching the games. There are a lot of little things you have to learn in this game that you can only learn by playing. And he did a great job of improving his game and working on those things in the off-season."
"That was me taking the initiative," said Evans of his decision to add muscle and work on his game this summer. "It's working out well. I don't see myself falling off as much as I did my freshman year. I'm able to bang with some of the bigger dudes now."
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Fresno State (9-11, 1-3 WAC) at Nevada (15-3, 4-0)
WHEN: 7:05 p.m. today
WHERE: Lawlor Events Center
