SWAC player of the year Ken Evans Jr. leaves Jackson State, commits as transfer to FAU

Two Jackson State basketball players, including SWAC player of the year Ken Evans Jr., on Monday announced their destinations out of the transfer portal.

Evans, who led the SWAC and Jackson State in scoring last season, averaging 18.8 points a game, committed to Florida Atlantic University. He started 32 games and averaged 5.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists, and became the ninth player in school history to score more than 1,000 career points.

Coltie Young committed to the University of Louisiana Monroe. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 8.7 points and four rebounds a game last season.

On the Warhawks’ social media page on X, formerly known as Twitter, the team posted “Welcome to the Warhawk family, @coltie young!

One of Jackson State’s biggest wins of the season came in a 73-72 upset on the road over Missouri; Evans scored 20 points and had three steals in that game.

The 6-5 guard had one of the best games of his career against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Evans tied the SWAC record for most field goals in a game with 14 and scored a career-high 37 points.

In four seasons at JSU, Evans started 92 games and scored 1,278 career points.

He will be playing for Owls first-year coach John Jakus, who was an assistant under Baylor’s Scott Drew and Gonzaga’s Mark Few.

Young scored a career-high 26 points against Alcorn State in JSU’s 88-80 victory on Jan. 6. The left-hander played in all 32 games last season and led the team in free-throw shooting at 82.4%.

ULM was 11-19 overall and 6-12 in the Sun Belt Conference last season.

The Starkville native won two state high school championships and was named a Dandy Dozen player by the Clarion Ledger in 2020.

KEN EVANS JR. BETTER BECAUSE OF INJURY How a season-ending injury made Jackson State basketball’s Ken Evans Jr. a better player

J.T. Keith is the HBCU sports editor for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at JKeith@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @JTKEITH1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson State, SWAC player of year Ken Evans Jr. transferring to FAU