Ryan Evanochko's basketball career at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay almost ended before it started.
As a freshman in fall 2003, he was suspended for the first exhibition game due to a violation of team rules. Though Tod Kowalczyk never has revealed why he suspended Evanochko, the Phoenix coach remembers wondering whether Evanochko was going to last in his program.
"I don't know if I thought he was a problem," Kowalczyk said, "but I certainly was worried he wasn't going to get it. But he gets it now."
That was evident last week, when in two games, the 6-foot-2 junior guard scored a total of 50 points to earn the Horizon League's player-of-the-week award for the first time.
Two years after his rocky start, Evanochko has become perhaps the key to UWGB's season. Heading into tonight's game against Eastern Michigan (2-3) at the Resch Center, Evanochko leads the Phoenix (3-5) in scoring (14.9 points per game), assists (4.5 per game) and minutes played (34.8 per game) and has become the team's emotional leader.
Evanochko is coming off easily the two best games of his college career, setting career highs each time with 22 points against Wisconsin and 28 in Saturday's win over Montana State.
Ask Evanochko the difference between him now and him as a freshman, and he'll point to one thing.
"It's all about maturity," Evanochko said Tuesday. "Learning to take criticism was hard. I think I've grown and matured a lot with that."
Evanochko came to Green Bay from Beaver Falls, Pa., shortly after being named the Pittsburgh area player of the year and Pennsylvania's Class AAA player of the year. Perhaps he thought he would step on the court and play right away but when it didn't happen, he got himself into trouble with Kowalczyk.
"I think he walked in here assuming that he was going to be the man right away, and it's hard to be that good at this level right away," Kowalczyk said. "He's become very teachable and coachable, and he's accepting criticism. I think he's really gotten to the point where not only does he accept criticism, he wants criticism."
After playing a reserve role his first two seasons, Evanochko was thrust into the point guard position this season after playing mostly off the ball as a freshman and sophomore. He was wildly inconsistent the first three weeks of the season, and through six games was struggling to find a balance between scoring and distributing the ball. That was never more evident than in a 59-51 loss at Illinois State on Dec. 3, when Evanochko made only 3 of 15 shots and handed out just two assists.
In his last two games, not only has his scoring gone through the roof, but so has his number of assists (13). He has made 17 of 28 shots (60.7) in that stretch.
"He's being more aggressive," UWGB freshman guard Terry Evans said. "That's it. The first couple of games this year, he was just feeling his way through it. Now, he's taken that firm lead."
The key to Evanochko's sudden success, according to Kowalczyk, is how his point guard sees the game.
"As you evolve and mature as a player, the game slows down and you see so much more," Kowalczyk said. "As a freshman, everything seems so fast. You can see that with (freshman guard) Simon Farine right now. He doesn't see things right now, but he will. It just comes with maturity."
It has manifested itself in Evanochko's decision making. The last two games, he has taken better shots, which is a big reason he's making more shots.
"I was rushing shots a little bit," Evanochko said. "I was taking a lot of floaters and not being on balance. I'm getting better looks, and when the first couple go down, I'm getting my confidence going early."
As a freshman in fall 2003, he was suspended for the first exhibition game due to a violation of team rules. Though Tod Kowalczyk never has revealed why he suspended Evanochko, the Phoenix coach remembers wondering whether Evanochko was going to last in his program.
"I don't know if I thought he was a problem," Kowalczyk said, "but I certainly was worried he wasn't going to get it. But he gets it now."
That was evident last week, when in two games, the 6-foot-2 junior guard scored a total of 50 points to earn the Horizon League's player-of-the-week award for the first time.
Two years after his rocky start, Evanochko has become perhaps the key to UWGB's season. Heading into tonight's game against Eastern Michigan (2-3) at the Resch Center, Evanochko leads the Phoenix (3-5) in scoring (14.9 points per game), assists (4.5 per game) and minutes played (34.8 per game) and has become the team's emotional leader.
Evanochko is coming off easily the two best games of his college career, setting career highs each time with 22 points against Wisconsin and 28 in Saturday's win over Montana State.
Ask Evanochko the difference between him now and him as a freshman, and he'll point to one thing.
"It's all about maturity," Evanochko said Tuesday. "Learning to take criticism was hard. I think I've grown and matured a lot with that."
Evanochko came to Green Bay from Beaver Falls, Pa., shortly after being named the Pittsburgh area player of the year and Pennsylvania's Class AAA player of the year. Perhaps he thought he would step on the court and play right away but when it didn't happen, he got himself into trouble with Kowalczyk.
"I think he walked in here assuming that he was going to be the man right away, and it's hard to be that good at this level right away," Kowalczyk said. "He's become very teachable and coachable, and he's accepting criticism. I think he's really gotten to the point where not only does he accept criticism, he wants criticism."
After playing a reserve role his first two seasons, Evanochko was thrust into the point guard position this season after playing mostly off the ball as a freshman and sophomore. He was wildly inconsistent the first three weeks of the season, and through six games was struggling to find a balance between scoring and distributing the ball. That was never more evident than in a 59-51 loss at Illinois State on Dec. 3, when Evanochko made only 3 of 15 shots and handed out just two assists.
In his last two games, not only has his scoring gone through the roof, but so has his number of assists (13). He has made 17 of 28 shots (60.7) in that stretch.
"He's being more aggressive," UWGB freshman guard Terry Evans said. "That's it. The first couple of games this year, he was just feeling his way through it. Now, he's taken that firm lead."
The key to Evanochko's sudden success, according to Kowalczyk, is how his point guard sees the game.
"As you evolve and mature as a player, the game slows down and you see so much more," Kowalczyk said. "As a freshman, everything seems so fast. You can see that with (freshman guard) Simon Farine right now. He doesn't see things right now, but he will. It just comes with maturity."
It has manifested itself in Evanochko's decision making. The last two games, he has taken better shots, which is a big reason he's making more shots.
"I was rushing shots a little bit," Evanochko said. "I was taking a lot of floaters and not being on balance. I'm getting better looks, and when the first couple go down, I'm getting my confidence going early."
