Former Kansas guard Elle Evans to begin pro career in Italy

Elle Evans did not leave Kansas with a routine job lined up. The former Jayhawk guard will head to Costa Masnaga, Italy, in August to begin her professional career with Basket Costa, stepping from Lawrence into a club that just moved up to Italy’s top level of women’s basketball.

For Kansas, Evans exits as one of the most accurate perimeter shooters in program history. She made 137 of 314 three-point attempts in two seasons in Lawrence, a 43.6% mark that tied Sandy Shaw for the school record. Kansas said Shaw’s standard had stood since 1988. Evans also finished her time in Lawrence as a player whose shot traveled well beyond the box score, earning recognition in April when Kansas Athletics selected her for the State Farm 3-Point Championship and then said she won three titles at the Final Four 3-Point Championships.

Evans’ move also shows how a strong KU career can turn into paid work overseas, not just a farewell tour. A June roster page listed her as a 6-foot-3 guard wearing No. 21, and her next stop puts her in a league where size, shooting and versatility travel well. Basket Costa, also known as Limonta Sport Costa Masnaga, earned promotion by beating San Giovanni Valdarno 95-81 on May 17, giving Evans a chance to join a club on the rise rather than one trying to avoid relegation.

The path to Italy was not automatic. By the end of her senior season, Evans felt worn down physically and unsure whether her body could handle more basketball. After the season, conversations with family, coaches and others around her kept steering her back to the same idea: if a pro chance was there, and if it came with the chance to live abroad, she should take it.

That decision fit her thinking about timing as much as basketball. Evans, who earned a business degree, understood she could move into a career later. A professional offer, once passed up, is harder to reclaim years down the road. Italy and Spain were her top choices from the start because she wanted strong competition and a place she would enjoy living.

Evans also brings recent production into her first full professional season. Eurobasket listed her at 8.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 36 games last season at Kansas, after she previously played at North Dakota State before transferring to Lawrence. Now the next chapter begins near the northern border of Italy, where a Kansas shooter will try to turn a college record into a working career abroad.