Louisville's Reyne Smith 'Ready to Go' for NCAA Tournament

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When the Louisville men's basketball program gets their run in the NCAA Tournament started next weekend, one of their top offensive weapons will be suiting back up.

Following Saturday's loss to Duke in the ACC Championship, head coach Pat Kelsey announced that sharpshooting guard Reyne Smith will indeed make his return to the lineup.

"Yeah, Reyne is going to be ready to go for the NCAA Tournament," he said. "He's really, really close today. We're excited. Medical staff has done an unbelievable job. He's been working tirelessly on his rehab and his recovery, but he's going to be ready to go."

Smith has missed the last four games due to a right injury suffered in their penultimate game of the regular season against Cal back on Mar. 5. He had been in street clothes for the first three games of his absence, but was an active participant in pre-game shoot around prior to the game against Duke. However, he ultimately decided that he could not go against the Blue Devils.

"(I have) peace of mind to be able to say that I was able to kind of give it a go, and see how it felt when I just moved around a little bit more," Smith told the Courier-Journal's Brooks Holton after the game. "Unfortunately, it just didn't feel right, and I didn't feel like I could kind of be out there and help. Then the main focus was quickly just to shut it down, and focus on getting right for the for the (NCAA) Tournament."

Not only is he Louisville's third-leading scorer at 13.4 points per game, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound guard is one of the top three-point shooters in all of college basketball. His 106 makes from deep is 10th in the nation, his 3.53 made threes per game is third, while his 277 attempts is 11th and has also broken the Louisville single-season record. His 38.3 percent shooting percentage on threes is second in the ACC.

The Ulverstone, Australia native spent the first three years of his collegiate career at Charleston with Kelsey. In 102 career games and 89 starts with the Cougars, he totaled 1,212 points, 294 made threes, 192 rebounds, 149 assists and 68 steals. This included an All-CAA Second Team nod last season, when he averaged 12.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

Louisville will officially learn their draw for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Mar. 16 at 6:00 p.m. EST during the selection show.

(Photo of Reyne Smith: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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