Skip to main content

With Jalen Smith gone, Maryland turns attention to next budding Baltimore star

Maryland basketball and highly-ranked Baltimore wings haven’t gone together much in the past but the Terps’ luck in Charm City has taken a positive turn over the past few years and could soon be put to the test with the city’s highest-ranked recruit in more than a decade.
  • Author:
  • Publish date:

Maryland basketball and highly-ranked Baltimore wings haven’t gone together much in the past but the Terps’ luck in Charm City has taken a positive turn over the past few years and could soon be put to the test with the city’s highest-ranked recruit in more than a decade.

Poly (Md.) small forward Kwame Evans Jr. received an offer from Maryland Thursday after appearing at No. 7 in ESPN’s initial class of 2023 rankings earlier this month. The 6-foot-8 wing is the city’s highest-ranked recruit since Josh Selby (Kansas) and the latest in a long line of highly-touted high school wings from Baltimore, many of which have spurned the Terps in the past, including Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay, Will Barton and Donte Greene.

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon made a conscious effort to improve the program’s relationship in Baltimore after not signing a player from the area for the first six years of his tenure, returning to the city to play semi-regular games in 2015 and bringing in Mount St. Joseph teammates Darryl Morsell and Jalen Smith in back-to-back recruiting classes in 2017 and 2018. Things couldn’t have turned out much better for all parties involved. Smith’s projected to be the first Baltimore player since Greene to be selected in the NBA Draft’s first round after earning first-team all-Big Ten honors as a sophomore, while Morsell should takeover as the the Terps’ leader next year with Anthony Cowan graduated. Maryland’s seen returns from Smith and Morsell’s success already on the trail, as there’s more Baltimore talent waiting in the wings with Ike Cornish and Julian Reese making up the entirety of the program’s 2021 recruiting class.

Evans comes from a basketball family. His father, Kwame Evans Sr., ranks fourth on George Washington’s all-time scoring list and led the Colonials to three NCAA Tournament appearances between 1993-1996. Kwame Evans Sr. grew up in Charm City around the same time as Bino Ranson and shared the court with the longtime Terps assistant coach in The Wire’s legendary pickup basketball game. Kwame Evans Jr.’s cousin, Che Evans Jr., an incoming freshman wing at San Diego State, was a one-time Maryland target as well.

Evans Jr. played a key role for Poly as a freshman, helping the Engineers go undefeated in city play with all but one win coming by double digits before their season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He had one of his best games in February, scoring 18 points in Poly’s 62-60 win over nationally-ranked IMG Academy (FL). Along with Maryland, he holds offers from TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Xavier, St. John’s, Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Auburn, DePaul and George Washington as well as interest from Wake Forest, Memphis, Michigan State, Notre Dame, VCU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech. He was slated to play for Team Durant (DC) on the Nike EYBL circuit this summer before Nike canceled the league.