The first two contests of the Chico State men’s basketball team’s four-game January road swing may not have yielded the results the Wildcats were looking for, but head coach Greg Clink’s squad—and in particular sophomore guard Evan Oliver—never stopped battling and continued to grind it out to the very end. Oliver turned in arguably his best week as a collegiate, leading the ’Cats in scoring in both games while also making big contributions on the boards and on the defensive end. Oliver’s efforts makes him the latest Wildcat of the Week.
In the Wildcats’ road tilts against Cal State Monterey Bay and San Francisco State, Oliver racked up an impressive stat sheet, hitting 12 of his 22 field goal attempts—including four 3-pointers—and averaged 18.5 points a game. The San Bernardino product was also 9-for-11 from the free throw line while hauling in a combined nine rebounds and grabbing six steals.
Against Cal State Monterey Bay on Thursday, Oliver was 6-for-8 from the field and scored 17 points, then in Saturday’s game against San Francisco State, drained three treys to finish with 20—the second time this season he has scored at least 20 points in a game—while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds and snaring four steals.
On the season, Oliver is averaging 11.4 points a game, and leads not only the Wildcats but all CCAA players with 37 steals.
Oliver and the Wildcats play two more roads games this week to close out January. Thursday night the ’Cats are in Hayward to face Cal State East Bay, then on Saturday afternoon the team is in Southern California to go head-to-head with Cal State Dominguez Hills.
