# BREAKING: IT’S SHOWTIME! Sophomore Sharpshooter Isaiah “Showtime Slim” Evans Erupts for Career-High in Explosive Duke Debut, Blue Devils Annihilate Opponent in Season Opener
**Durham, NC – November 18, 2025** – Call it a coming-out party, call it a coronation, or just call it what it was: pure Showtime. In front of a raucous Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd still buzzing from the post-Cooper Flagg era, Duke sophomore wing Isaiah Evans – better known to the college basketball world as **”Showtime Slim”** – delivered the kind of performance that had Twitter (now X) exploding, analysts rewriting mock drafts, and head coach Jon Scheyer grinning ear-to-ear. The 6-foot-7 sniper from North Mecklenburg High School in Huntersville, N.C., poured in a career-high **28 points** on an absurd 10-of-14 shooting, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc, as No. 4 Duke demolished Maine 108-64 in their highly anticipated home opener Monday night.
Yes, you read that right – **28 points, six triples, and the Cameron Crazies chanting “Show-time! Show-time!”** from the opening tip to the final buzzer. Evans, who entered the 2025-26 season as a Preseason Second Team All-ACC selection after a promising freshman campaign limited by depth, wasted no time announcing that this year is going to be different. Very different.
The game itself was never in doubt after the first media timeout. Duke raced out to a 22-6 lead fueled by Evans’ early barrage – he hit his first four three-point attempts, each one smoother and more confident than the last. One particular sequence in the first half had the entire arena on its feet: Evans caught a swing pass from freshman point guard Cayden Boozer, pump-faked a closing defender into the second row, took one hard dribble left, and rose up for a silky pull-up triple that splashed clean. “It’s showtime,” he mouthed to the student section while backpedaling on defense, a phrase that instantly trended nationwide under the handles @showtime.slim and @_maxx_ as clips went viral.
For those who slept on Evans after he averaged just 6.8 points as a freshman role player behind Cooper Flagg, Jared McCain, and the 2024-25 one-and-done crew – wake up. The kid they call Showtime Slim added 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason (now listed at a lean 195), refined his handle, and looks every bit the future first-round NBA wing scouts projected when he was the No. 9 recruit in the 2024 class. His release is lightning quick, his elevation effortless, and his confidence? Off the charts.
“Man, I’ve been waiting for this,” Evans told ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe at halftime, already with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting. “Last year I was learning, staying ready. This year? It’s my time. It’s showtime, baby.”
The numbers don’t lie. Evans finished with **28 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and zero turnovers** in just 26 minutes. He became the first Duke sophomore since Grayson Allen in 2016-17 to drop 28+ in a season opener, and his six made threes tied a Cameron Indoor record for a Blue Devil in their first home start. Teammates fed him all night – Cameron Boozer, the explosive freshman big man and son of NBA champ Carlos Boozer, dished four assists directly to Evans while adding 18 points and 12 rebounds himself for another double-double. Transfer guard Dame Sarr chipped in 15, but this was unequivocally the Isaiah Evans show.
Maine, a scrappy America East squad coming off a 20-win season, simply had no answer. Black Bears coach Chris Markwood threw multiple defenders at Evans – double-teams, hedges, even face-guarding – but nothing worked. Evans curled off screens like a seasoned pro, relocated with purpose, and punished any closeout that was even a half-step late. By the under-8 timeout in the second half, with Duke leading 82-45, Scheyer pulled his starters to a standing ovation, and the Crazies serenaded their new hero with “M-V-P!” chants.
Social media was on fire within minutes. The official Duke Basketball account posted a highlight reel captioned simply “IT’S SHOWTIME 🔥 @showtime.slim” that racked up 2 million views in under an hour. Former Blue Devils like Zion Williamson quote-tweeted it with fire emojis, while NBA stars like Devin Booker and Saddiq Bey (Evans’ most common pro comp) liked and retweeted. One viral clip from @_maxx_ – a popular Duke fan account – showed Evans hitting back-to-back-to-back threes in the first half with the overlay text “They woke up the Slim Reaper 😈 #ShowtimeSlim.”
Analysts were quick to pile on the praise. ESPN’s Jay Bilas called it “the best individual shooting performance in a Duke opener since JJ Redick.” The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie bumped Evans into the late-lottery of his latest 2026 mock draft, writing, “If this is the new normal for Isaiah Evans, we’re talking about a potential All-American and top-15 pick. The release, the size, the confidence – it’s all there.”
For Jon Scheyer, in his fourth year at the helm and under massive pressure to follow last season’s Final Four run, nights like this are gold. “Isaiah has been unbelievable in practice,” Scheyer said postgame. “We knew this was coming. He’s stronger, he’s more explosive off the dribble, and his shot is still wetter than the Atlantic. When he’s feeling it like tonight, we’re a different team. Unstoppable, really.”
The win moves Duke to 4-0 on the young season after blowouts over lesser opponents and that gritty Veterans Day rout of Army. But this felt different. This felt like a statement. With Flagg, Proctor, and the old guard gone to the NBA, the Blue Devils needed someone to step into the spotlight as the go-to scorer. Monday night, Isaiah Evans grabbed that torch and set it ablaze.
Up next: a marquee showdown with No. 9 Kentucky in the Champions Classic next Tuesday in Atlanta. If Evans brings even half of this heat to Madison Square Garden North, John Calipari’s Wildcats are in for a long night.
Duke fans have a new favorite phrase echoing through Cameron: **It’s showtime.**
And Showtime Slim just delivered the performance of the early college basketball season.
Welcome to the Isaiah E♦vans era.
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