Isaiah Evans announces return to Duke for 2025-2026 season

Isaiah Evans will be returning to Duke for the 2025-2026 season, he announced via X on Tuesday. One of the more unusual ways to return to school, Evans made the move official with one word in a reply to the Blue Devils’ account.

“yo Slim you back? @IsaiahEvans26” Duke asked. He replied, “yea.”

yea

— Isaiah Evans (@IsaiahEvans26) April 22, 2025

Just wrapped up his freshman season at Duke, Evans played in 36 games. While only three of them were starts, head coach Jon Scheyer still put a lot of trust in Evans. The first-year player averaged 6.8 points per game while shooting 43.2% from the field. He added just around a rebound every time out there too.

Evans played high school basketball at Huntersville (NC) North Mecklenburg, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 15 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

“Isaiah Evans is a lengthy prospect, all arms and legs right now,” On3’s Jamie Shaw said in a scouting report. “He moves fluidly and is comfortable handling the ball in the open floor. He is good in the passing lanes; his length and anticipation help deflections. Evans is very thin and will need to continue adding weight. The jump shot comes across his face and is inconsistent. Good off-ball cutter seems to have a high basketball IQ. Inconsistent in creating in the half-court, re-tooling the jump shot will also help here. He has a lot of tools and a natural basketball IQ; he also competes and does a lot of the little things.”

Duke is fresh off a Final Four appearance and not too far away from playing in the national championship game. Scheyer is undoubtedly one of the best young coaches in all of college basketball. Especially when it comes to building rosters. The Blue Devils recruit at as high of a level as anybody out there.

Evans was a massive win for Duke back in high school. Retaining him for another season is just as massive. There is a lot of untapped potential there for Evans and Scheyer will be looking to untap some of it moving forward.

Mix in another incredible talent pool coming to Raleigh and Duke will be one of the top-ranked preseason teams. On3’s James Fletcher currently has them at No. 3 overall in his way-too-early rankings, with nobody in the ACC higher.