Speaker 1: This is kJ Live with Chris john S. Allen and
Speaker 1: Chris is having conversations with influencers in the sports world
Speaker 1: and entertainment industry. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now tuned
Speaker 1: in to kJ Live. I'm your host, Chris Johnson. Today's
Speaker 1: guest on the show was one of the top young
Speaker 1: basketball prospects in the world. He hails from Riverside, California,
Speaker 1: stands around seven ft two, attends Hill Chris High School
Speaker 1: in the Inland Empire, and next season he will be
Speaker 1: joining coach Ben Johnson in the University of Minnesota Golden
Speaker 1: Gophers men's basketball program. Let's welcome in Dennis Evans to
Speaker 1: the show. What's happening, Dennis? Not much? How's everything going? Man?
Speaker 1: You have you have practice today? How did that go?
Speaker 1: I want really? Will? Yeah? What sort of stuff is
Speaker 1: coach Jack's coach would? Right? Yeah? Is coach would putting
Speaker 1: you guys through? I know we're in November. I'm sure
Speaker 1: the season is about to start and kick off. What
Speaker 1: are some of the stuff that you guys have been
Speaker 1: doing in practice and what are some of your goals
Speaker 1: as far as going into your senior year? Wrong this
Speaker 1: time during podcast we're making sure that everyone knows sets,
Speaker 1: some plays and you know what to do in different
Speaker 1: situations and all that. And my goal for my senior
Speaker 1: years just hopefully once if CIF before I leave and
Speaker 1: do as much as possible to get everyone around me better. Man.
Speaker 1: That's a great goal, man. I want to c I
Speaker 1: F championships defeated modern day uh and both of them
Speaker 1: to go to the States. So I know that feeling, man,
Speaker 1: And that's the heck of a goal. And with your
Speaker 1: skill set, your ability to really control and patrol the
Speaker 1: painted area and dominate on that side, man, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be tough for people to beat you. Guys. Man, I
Speaker 1: want to back up a little bit, man, I want
Speaker 1: to find out sort of the beginnings and the foundation
Speaker 1: of of which Dennis Evans was built up. Where are
Speaker 1: you from the Riverside area originally? Yeah? I was. I
Speaker 1: was born around here, moved up to victor Ville for
Speaker 1: a few years, and then came back down when the
Speaker 1: team to high school. Yeah, did you play like growing
Speaker 1: up when you was a youngster? Did you play other sports?
Speaker 1: And were you always a hooper? I didn't really play
Speaker 1: too many sports growing up, you know. I got into
Speaker 1: sports when I got into middle school, because you know,
Speaker 1: that's my first time seeing you know, and what made
Speaker 1: you fall in level the game? Like who was your
Speaker 1: favorite player around that time? Growing up? Around that time?
Speaker 1: First growing up, I was watching like a lot of
Speaker 1: really old footage. So first few players I've seen it
Speaker 1: was like a team Kareem and those players, and I
Speaker 1: really like the way they played. What what are some
Speaker 1: of the things that you really enjoyed about a team
Speaker 1: Elijah one, because he's one of the greats of the game.
Speaker 1: Incredible footwork, my man. What what was some of the
Speaker 1: stuff you observed a by the key? Well, I started
Speaker 1: to pick up too much offensively, but first thing I
Speaker 1: did see it was his defensive presence. You know, his
Speaker 1: always wanted to go after a shot and really good
Speaker 1: at being there to block it and get it out
Speaker 1: the way. Yeah. And so I'm sure you're pretty tall
Speaker 1: in middle school. How tall were you like around the
Speaker 1: eighth grade? Eighth grade, I was about six seven six seven,
Speaker 1: And at that time, were you playing primarily on the
Speaker 1: inside or where your coach is kind of trying to
Speaker 1: put some skills in you to make you have that nice,
Speaker 1: sweet jumper that you've got today, I'll primarily play inside,
Speaker 1: you know, clean up job, trying to get to the
Speaker 1: rim as much as possible. Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right. Man.
Speaker 1: When you look at where you were in the eighth
Speaker 1: grade and you look at where you are now, like,
Speaker 1: what do you think when you think back to that?
Speaker 1: Do you feel a sense of satisfaction? Or is it
Speaker 1: like jobs not finished like Kobe says, or what's your mentality?
Speaker 1: I feel like it's definitely been a really good progression,
Speaker 1: but there's definitely somewhere else to go. I mean, seeing
Speaker 1: how far up coming this little amount of time makes
Speaker 1: me wonder how far I could Yeah? Absolutely. I mean
Speaker 1: the how do you handle all the sort of the
Speaker 1: success and the adulation. I mean, you shot up the rankings.
Speaker 1: I believe you're ranked somewhere around the one forty something
Speaker 1: one fifty. The shot up to top twenty, like in
Speaker 1: less in a couple of sessions of playing. How do
Speaker 1: you handle that new found notoriety and how do you
Speaker 1: stay grounded and keep the main thing the main thing?
Speaker 1: You know? I always think about, you know, a long
Speaker 1: term success, and I think about the short term, because
Speaker 1: the short term could come and go as quickly as
Speaker 1: it came. Wow? Wow, So where do you get that
Speaker 1: sort of big picture that's a mature way of thinking this?
Speaker 1: And you're still sixteen? Or did you turn seventeen yet?
Speaker 1: I turned seventeen? Okay, okay, So when did you turn seventeen?
Speaker 1: I was like July towards the beginning of summer, like
Speaker 1: you around the middle. Wow, So you just turned seventeen
Speaker 1: and you're already focused and locked into the long long term.
Speaker 1: Do you have mentors, parents or I know you your
Speaker 1: parents are or in your life heavily. Do you have
Speaker 1: people that you count on to keep you grounded and
Speaker 1: keep you on the right path. I definitely. My AU
Speaker 1: coach is one of them, always telling me, like when
Speaker 1: I was really bad at bousketball, that there's always a
Speaker 1: bigger picture to it and just continue to keep working
Speaker 1: and keep getting better. Absolutely. And when the college coaches
Speaker 1: started calling Dennis and they started, you know, sending letters
Speaker 1: and getting the calls from the house, how was that
Speaker 1: process for you as far as your recruitment? What things
Speaker 1: did you look for in a college basketball coaching staff,
Speaker 1: in a college basketball program. I definitely was looking for
Speaker 1: a program that was gonna, you know, give me an
Speaker 1: opportunity to give me a chance to showcase the fact
Speaker 1: that I belong there and then I'm gonna get better
Speaker 1: at everything that I uh do. Who were some of
Speaker 1: the like finalists that you had in contention for your services?
Speaker 1: My two finance was Minnesota and TCU. And what put
Speaker 1: Minnesota over the top versus TCU Because I know Jamie Dixon,
Speaker 1: I know Coach Broussard down there, and that's that's a
Speaker 1: good program, that's a good staff, They've got some stuff
Speaker 1: going on. What made Minnesota so attractive for you? Den?
Speaker 1: I felt like it would be an easier option to
Speaker 1: come in and just put in the work and continue
Speaker 1: to get better. You know, if there's always gonna be expectations,
Speaker 1: but you know, just having that expectation here will definitely
Speaker 1: help me improve my game and continue to focus on
Speaker 1: what's the main goal is instead of the turn to
Speaker 1: other things. Yeah, that and you're going into the Big
Speaker 1: Ten Conference. Minnesota plays the likes of Michigan State in
Speaker 1: Michigan and Indiana and Purdue in Illinois. I mean, did
Speaker 1: that excite you? The allure of playing sort of out
Speaker 1: of state and these like story programs for US West
Speaker 1: Coast guys because we usually see them on ESPN. It's
Speaker 1: definitely an exciting thing for me, you know, being able
Speaker 1: to come in and play against those some programs like that,
Speaker 1: and it's definitely gonna be you know, benefits with some improvement.
Speaker 1: Are you excited about, uh reuniting with your former teammate
Speaker 1: Jaden Henley up there. It's definitely gonna be exciting things
Speaker 1: to me, you know, being able to play with alongside
Speaker 1: him again. Yeah, man, you guys should do some good things.
Speaker 1: But you guys are really, really, really talented, and there's
Speaker 1: nothing like that camaraderie to help with the chemistry. Dentist,
Speaker 1: If you're I asked one of your teammates right now,
Speaker 1: I say, what type of teammate is Dennis Evans? What
Speaker 1: would they what would they describe you as? They will
Speaker 1: describe me as a really good teammate, you know, someone
Speaker 1: who's always looking to try to push someone to go
Speaker 1: a little bit further and make a few more shots
Speaker 1: and trying to run a little bit harder. Yeah, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: And so you push guys in practice? Are you first
Speaker 1: in sprints? Are you? Are you vocal? In practice? You
Speaker 1: seem like a quiet leader, I describe your style for me,
Speaker 1: I am one quietly trying to beat everybody in sprints
Speaker 1: and all that, and call people out when they are
Speaker 1: messing up for something, or help somebody else if they're
Speaker 1: messing up on them play. I'm not too welcal with
Speaker 1: the offensive vent and something I'm still working on, but
Speaker 1: a defensive vent. I'll really speak up to the guys,
Speaker 1: let them know what they need to do and everything,
Speaker 1: make sure that we're all together. Yeah, talking and communicating
Speaker 1: is essential, especially for for for somebody like yourself. Fox
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Speaker 1: s R to listen live. When you played your A
Speaker 1: U season, I saw you stepping out, I saw you
Speaker 1: being on the floor and the perimeter. Um, I've seen
Speaker 1: you hit threes. I've seen you, you know, do some
Speaker 1: stuff out there. How much part, I mean, how much
Speaker 1: of that part of your game do you work on
Speaker 1: and how much of it is an emphasis? It's definitely
Speaker 1: something I'm starting to work on a lot more, especially
Speaker 1: with the way the game to play is played nowadays.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm still working on developing inside outside skills.
Speaker 1: But how good outside i Q as well as inside
Speaker 1: post work were really good because if they start to
Speaker 1: double b outside or inside, I could step outside and
Speaker 1: also look be able to look and make the reason
Speaker 1: cuts that it's necessary being a weekler as well. So
Speaker 1: now you sound like you you're a student of the game.
Speaker 1: You study the game a lot, dentist, Yeah, YouTube film
Speaker 1: or you in film sessions with coach. I mean, what's
Speaker 1: your process when you're trying to learn and and really
Speaker 1: just you know, develop more and get a little better
Speaker 1: on that side of things. You know, it's definitely like, yeah,
Speaker 1: watching film, watching old games and all that, and also
Speaker 1: watching some of the you know, some some of the
Speaker 1: film from other players and all that, seeing how they move,
Speaker 1: how they react to things. That's a smart thing to do. Man,
Speaker 1: you should watch as much film as you can. That's
Speaker 1: how you that's in mimic, you know, and try to
Speaker 1: copy off of those guys, because at your side, your
Speaker 1: frame and if you're able to, you know, mimic some
Speaker 1: of those movements and some of those things. I mean,
Speaker 1: the sky is absolutely delimited. You won a gold medal
Speaker 1: for the Team USA under eighteen team in Spain. What
Speaker 1: did you learn about yourself during that trip? I learned
Speaker 1: a lot about myself, you know. I learned that um
Speaker 1: a voluable I said, you know, as a player, not
Speaker 1: only in my little team, but also you know nationally,
Speaker 1: I proved some value and also help me learn a
Speaker 1: lot more about myself being in that type of situation
Speaker 1: outside of the country. You know, don't speak the same
Speaker 1: language as everybody else. Yeah, No, it's always an interesting
Speaker 1: experience when you're international. I got the chance to play
Speaker 1: in the Middle East and Russia and Turkey and all
Speaker 1: over the world. But the one common theme, uh, the
Speaker 1: game of basketball. They spoke the language of basketball. Man,
Speaker 1: It's spoken everywhere. Uh. In't that cool though? When you
Speaker 1: when you see someone that's thousand miles away and they're
Speaker 1: kind of have the same swag or they're on the
Speaker 1: court doing stuff, You're just like that, Man, where do
Speaker 1: you get that from? It's definitely something you know, exciting
Speaker 1: to see, you know, uh, seeing what other players do
Speaker 1: while you're out there, seeing the different things that they
Speaker 1: pick up with their game, definitely something different. Did you
Speaker 1: get close with any of your teammates? You still keep
Speaker 1: in contact with any of those guys, anybody you know
Speaker 1: you cool with. I talked to a few of the
Speaker 1: guys on the team. You know, we don't talk a
Speaker 1: whole lot because you know, we're go to different schools,
Speaker 1: a little bit harder to communicate. Well, I've definitely spoke
Speaker 1: with a few of them. That's we're going on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to find some some things out about you
Speaker 1: on the off the court stuff. As far as your
Speaker 1: academic goals, I'm very interested in that. Man. What is it?
Speaker 1: What's your favorite subject in school and what do you
Speaker 1: plan on majoring in at Minnesota. My favorite subject in
Speaker 1: school right now is definitely math. I find it a
Speaker 1: lot easier to deal with numbers. What what are you as?
Speaker 1: Statistics are? Calculus? And me? What what bath class are? Year? Bro?
Speaker 1: I'm in I'm in stats right now. Stats is killer.
Speaker 1: So how you doing in it? I'm doing pretty well? Yeah? Alright,
Speaker 1: but pretty well? What's that? A B plus A minus
Speaker 1: the C? Talk to them. I haven't gotten lower than
Speaker 1: a nine D on the test yet. Oh okay, alright, alright,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna major in college? Uh? Probably major
Speaker 1: economics or business. Okay, okay, And let's say twenty years
Speaker 1: down the line, after twenty five years down the line,
Speaker 1: after you've you know, hooped and you're you've hung it
Speaker 1: all up, what do you envision yourself doing with your
Speaker 1: business or economics degree after basketball? I definitely want to,
Speaker 1: you know, continue to make some connections and hopefully have
Speaker 1: enough going from either way. I can still you know,
Speaker 1: assist in the game of basketball. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's the player. Man. Let's stay today. Let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about what you envisioned your role at Minnesota
Speaker 1: and what you're short your short term and long term
Speaker 1: goals are for college. I know when I went to school,
Speaker 1: I wanted to win a championship. We got lucky and
Speaker 1: won a national championship my first year. Now, with your addition,
Speaker 1: there's no question the Golden Golfers can be a contender. Now,
Speaker 1: winning a championship is a hard thing to do. Is
Speaker 1: that something that you think about, Dennis, that's definitely the
Speaker 1: gold of course, it's always gonna be the golden pushtion
Speaker 1: to go as far as possible. Absolutely, always shoot for
Speaker 1: the stars. Man, Uh, that's dope. Who's your favorite NBA player?
Speaker 1: Every NBA player, Yeah, i'd said, Joel. Why why you
Speaker 1: like his game. That's the way he's been able to
Speaker 1: change the adopter being a low post player to be
Speaker 1: an inside outside th Yeah. Now, his his development on
Speaker 1: both sides, on the side of the game has been
Speaker 1: It's been amazing to see he does stuff out there. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm just like that where he get that at I
Speaker 1: could see some similarities there. I could see you being
Speaker 1: able to do it. You're what side you you are?
Speaker 1: I saw somewhere you had on some seventeen crops, some
Speaker 1: seven teens and some crops and something may called you
Speaker 1: out on TV? Was that true? Yeah? Oh? Man, So
Speaker 1: you gotta get custom shoes or like, what's your favorite
Speaker 1: pair of shoes? If you could pick one pair of
Speaker 1: shoes that you you could wear every day for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life, Bro, which ones would it be?
Speaker 1: That's hard? Dang one pair of shoes. There's my pair. Like,
Speaker 1: if I'm going for own court style, going Kyris, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: off court, of course, I'm usually gonna go with something
Speaker 1: a little bit more comfortable. Yeah, okay, yeah me too.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm the same way. I got some ugs with
Speaker 1: the fur in them, man, that I just love. I
Speaker 1: mean that comfort is you know that comforts a well
Speaker 1: when you hoop and you're all your feet. People got
Speaker 1: that don't hoop. They don't understand what it's like for us, bro.
Speaker 1: They don't understand what the what the hoopers go through.
Speaker 1: But take care of those feet, man, take care of
Speaker 1: those puppies. Um. As far as like the number one
Speaker 1: thing you you say you can improve upon, this as
Speaker 1: far as your game on the basketball, for something you
Speaker 1: think about, something you work hard towards every single day,
Speaker 1: what is it? I was definitely building the offensive edge.
Speaker 1: My defense is out of my offense right now. And
Speaker 1: if I can get them leveled out and continue to
Speaker 1: both you know, keep them both going, obviously something that
Speaker 1: I'll really helped me. Do you have like a go
Speaker 1: to move that you the one move that you love
Speaker 1: more than others? I mean, I'm not trying to give
Speaker 1: everybody the scout a report on your game, So if
Speaker 1: you don't feel comfortable telling everybody right now, that's cool.
Speaker 1: But because I noticed you got one time I saw
Speaker 1: you cat you did a shimmy A yah yah y'all.
Speaker 1: And then the pivot I see you like the up
Speaker 1: and under pivot game. Is that stuff that you like
Speaker 1: to do a lot well. At first my goal to
Speaker 1: move was the hook shop, but after the first year
Speaker 1: I realized that it's gonna have to go to the
Speaker 1: up and under. So they pretty much changes each year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it seems like because the defenders are trying to beat
Speaker 1: you in the air and get you know, jumped before
Speaker 1: you do, so they always go go for that pumping
Speaker 1: because everybody's trying to jump quick because they know they're
Speaker 1: gonna get banged on if they don't. Something else that
Speaker 1: does about you too, man, When you blocking shots, Man,
Speaker 1: I see you always talking to dude, not talking, but
Speaker 1: kind of giving them the little scalt. What is that from? Man?
Speaker 1: Is it? Are you hyped at that moment or what's
Speaker 1: up with that? I'm definitely hyped to them over. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know, I find a lot of fun blocking shots,
Speaker 1: and it's definitely something that I've always been really good
Speaker 1: at and eventually I started showing a bit of motion
Speaker 1: with it. No, man, it's a great thing to see. Man.
Speaker 1: That fire, that passion shows that you know you're taking
Speaker 1: this this defensive thing seriously. I saw you block three
Speaker 1: four shots in the road and just doing the same thing.
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, he's ready. He's ready. He's gonna
Speaker 1: need that energy in the Big ten conference. Um. Then
Speaker 1: there's a couple more questions. Man, then I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you go. I kind of wanted to find out what
Speaker 1: is it in your life? I don't know. It might
Speaker 1: be spiritually, it might be you know, your parents. What
Speaker 1: keeps you like locked in on a daily basis? All
Speaker 1: it say, it's my love for the game and my family. Yeah,
Speaker 1: families everything, man, Families inspirationals, motivational man. Family and love
Speaker 1: will help you get up when you don't really want
Speaker 1: to get up and do the things that that you
Speaker 1: don't feel like doing, and you gotta do it. And
Speaker 1: whatever it is that you've been doing, young man, continue
Speaker 1: to do it. UM. Is an honor to have you
Speaker 1: on the show. Man. We'll be looking forward to watching
Speaker 1: you play at Minnesota UM, and excuse me this year.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing you play and then in
Speaker 1: the future at Minnesota. UM. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining the show, Dennis. We appreciate you. Got any shoutouts
Speaker 1: you wanted to give, bro I got no shout out.
Speaker 1: Thank you for inviting me here. You know, tremendous opportunity.
Speaker 1: Absolutely thank you for coming on, ladies and gentlemen. Dennis
Speaker 1: Evans