Open Ryan Evans’ locker in the Kohl Center and a couple of basketballs might drop out of it.

Evans needs those balls when he works on his jump shot after his schoolwork is done and there’s no one in the building with keys to the ball room. Kirk Penney used to do that. So did Devin Harris and Alando Tucker, among others with the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team.

There was no stopping those former Badgers’ quests to get better. Evans fits that description, too, and that’s why he’s one of the early-season feel-good stories.

Evans, a 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman forward from Phoenix, has literally worked his way into the playing rotation for UW, which plays Oakland (Mich.) tonight in a non-conference game at the Kohl Center.

Evans is still pretty raw because he didn’t start playing until just before high school. His jump shot, for instance, is a work in progress. But you can’t miss him on the court because of his athleticism and desire.

“If he just continues to work the way he has, we see how much improvement he’s made already, so he could end up being a pretty good player because of his willpower,” UW coach Bo Ryan said.

Evans’ college playing career was not 10 seconds old before he forced a turnover and picked up a steal during the Badgers’ 75-46 season-opening victory over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne on Sunday. He finished with six points, three rebounds and an assist, a block and a steal in 19 minutes.

After the game, Evans phoned his father, Greg, who used to wrestle at Minnesota, after the game. And he called his friend and mentor, Anthony Blakes, who is a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

It’s hard to talk on the phone when you’re smiling from ear to ear. But Evans, who has a cousin playing football for UCLA and another who plays football at Stanford, still managed to express his excitement to all his relatives back home. “This is fun out here,” said Evans, who has been grinning since he arrived on campus last year.

The reasons are obvious. He has a 3.0 grade-point average and he’s soaking up every bit of information about getting better at basketball on the court.

Evans was told he needed to get stronger. Done. While redshirting last year, he spent much of it doing bench presses, squats and verticals in the weight room and he’s now a solid 210 pounds.

He was told to get better acquainted with the game and how Ryan teaches it. So Evans regularly grabs a DVD of the team’s most recent practice and then goes home and studies it.

“Right now he’s like that baby giraffe out there at times, wobbling around, out of position, in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said assistant head coach Greg Gard. “But athletically he can make up for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and can recover. That will get harder as we get against better and better teams.”

Evans will get a great baptism under fire starting with Oakland, and then against Arizona and possibly Gonzaga at next week’s Maui Invitational.

It’s no surprise to hear Evans say he can’t wait to face more challenges.

“I think I’m a person who has a great amount of potential and I want to maximize that for myself and the team,” he said.

Those kind of statements put smiles on coaches’ faces.

“He wants to be a player. That’s a good thing. That’s something you can’t teach or instill,” Gard said.

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