Semoball

Talented SEMO walk-on is 'everything you want' in a player

Southeast Missouri State freshman guard Tevin Gowins defends in a game against Fontbonne earlier this season at the Show Me Center.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

A walk-on on a college basketball squad has one purpose, which is to help the team be successful in any way possible.

Perhaps that is playing limited minutes, but making the starters work hard in practice, or maybe it is playing a lot of minutes when the depth of the team is challenged.

In the case of SEMO men’s basketball freshman guard Tevin Gowins, he has done both in his first two college games.

“That dude has been so consistent,” third-year Redhawk coach Brad Korn said of Gowins. “He shows up every single day.”

In Saturday’s 83-46 rout of NAIA program Lyon College at the Show Me Center, the 5-foot-9 Gowins made his only shot, a 3-pointer, in nine minutes of action, which is about what you would expect a walk-on to get in a large win over a lesser-level program. However, what no one expected was, Gowins to play 24 minutes in the Redhawks’ season-opening win at South Florida – and hold his own.

“How he played (against South Florida),” Korn said, “is exactly how he practices every day. All he has done is build confidence in the coaching staff because he does that.”

Most walk-on players at the NCAA Division I level were athletes that were standouts at the high school level, who perhaps didn’t get the recruiting attention that they believed they should have and wanted to prove everyone wrong. And maybe that is the case with Gowins.

But in his case, Gowins averaged just seven points per game as a senior for a Hazelwood Central High School squad that labored to a 13-13 season. It was hardly a springboard to being a contributing player in an emerging NCAA Division I program.

“I’ve been thinking about him (in a contributing role),” Korn explained, “since really, we started practice.”

Gowins sat down with Korn recently to talk about his role, and Korn advised him to “not worry about that right now. College basketball is a long season and let’s see how these practices go.”

In other words, Gowins is a LOT better than Korn (or his coaches thought), and SEMO just might need this kid more than it thought.

Against South Florida, the Redhawks were without guards Dylan Branson, Gavyn Elkamil, and Israel Barnes due to injury, and gave Gowins a shot (literally). He made 1 of 3 shots and finished with three points, but also grabbed four rebounds. However, the most impressive statistic was the fact that Gowins didn’t turn the ball over, despite being a guard handling the ball a lot, against an American Athletic Conference team, in his college debut, after NOT being a star in high school.

“He defends his position at a high, high level,” Korn said. “He is a true point guard. He doesn’t need the ball to shoot and score. He is not worried about that. He is worried about helping the team and defending.

“That (South Florida) game was not a fluke. I’m really impressed with Tevin because he has been everything that you want in a player in your program. He hasn’t asked for anything. He doesn’t want anything. He just shows up and plays his butt off and competes. As a coach, that is all you can ask of a player.”

The Redhawks (2-0) will visit the first of consecutive Missouri Valley Conference programs, Evansville (1-1), on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+), which will be followed by a road test at Bradley (1-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN3).

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: