{"id":190038,"date":"2025-08-31T20:47:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T20:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/190038\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T20:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T20:47:11","slug":"uncs-kyan-evans-opens-up-about-patrick-mahomes-comparisons-comments-on-kansas-city-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/190038\/","title":{"rendered":"UNC\u2019s Kyan Evans Opens Up About Patrick Mahomes Comparisons, Comments on Kansas City Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Carolina point guard Kyan Evans says growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, shaped his game and outlook. A standout at Staley High School, Evans knows the attention that comes with being an athlete from the area. He has often heard comparisons to Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes, a spotlight he admits follows many athletes from his hometown.<\/p>\n

UNC Guard Kyan Evans Reflects on Kansas City Legacy, Patrick Mahomes Parallels<\/p>\n

North Carolina point guard Kyan Evans has quickly adjusted to life in Chapel Hill, but his Kansas City roots remain a central part of his story. On the \u201cCarolina Insider\u201d podcast with Jones Angell and Adam Lucas, Evans recalled how often he hears comparisons to Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cKansas City, you got a little Patrick Mahomes vibe going on. I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s not the first time you\u2019ve heard that,\u201d he was asked<\/a>. Evans responded, \u201cNo. Yeah. And I mean in Kansas City, I hear all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comparisons have even followed him onto the court in lighthearted ways. At a fantasy camp, Evans remembered talking trash to another player.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the players on the other team\u2026 looks over. He was like, \u2018Hey, Pat Mahomes, be quiet.\u2019 I was like, \u2018All right.\u2019 I was like, \u2018That\u2019s cool. That\u2019s cool.\u2019\u201d Evans admitted he hears it often but views it positively. \u201cPat was a blessing for Kansas City, too. Brought some rings. So it was a good good little connection, though, for sure. There\u2019s worse guys to get compared to. I think that\u2019s fair to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Evans\u2019 transition to North Carolina has been smooth, partly because of his experience transferring from Colorado State.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes Carolina feel like home yet? Yeah, I mean, for sure. It\u2019s so early, too. And I think I\u2019m just so comfortable. I\u2019m also older, so it\u2019s hard to compare it to my first few months like of college at Colorado State. But from being here four months already or so, I\u2019m super comfortable and feel like all the people around are family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The adjustment also comes with physical differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember going out and practicing and playing for the first time in Colorado, and my chest was just hurting. It felt like you just lost air or something. But got out here now, we\u2019re kind of low. Sea level almost. So, it\u2019s a lot different. Feel like I can run a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More: John Calipari, Hubert Davis\u2019 2026 Target With NBA Pedigree Told To Fix Key Skill Gap for One-and-Done Dream<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond the comparisons to Mahomes and the acclimation to a new program, Evans emphasized the community at UNC:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of people that come back and talk to us and want to see us succeed and say, you know, whatever I can do to help, just reach out and truly mean it. I think that\u2019s just different. That\u2019s not everywhere. And a lot of places just aren\u2019t capable of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Evans, the combination of his Kansas City foundation, confidence in his game, and the welcoming culture at North Carolina has created the right environment as he begins this next chapter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Carolina point guard Kyan Evans says growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, shaped his game and outlook.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":190039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-190038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115125344344145053","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}