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Virginia Women's Basketball Guard Alexia Smith Enters Transfer Portal
The second transfer portal entry of the offseason for Virginia women's basketball is Alexia Smith. A couple of days after Cady Pauley returned to her home state and Coach Mox's previous school by signing with Missouri State, Alexia Smith is reportedly in the portal as a graduate transfer, as first reported by Talia Goodman on Friday.
A 5'8" senior from Columbus, Ohio, Smith transferred to Virginia from Minnesota two years ago as one of the first recruits of the Coach Mox era. With UVA suffering quite a bit from injuries and general lack of depth, Smith played more minutes in her first season as a Cavalier than her second. In 2022-2023, Smith started 13 of 29 games, played 22.9 minutes per game and averaged 5.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.2 steals as one of Virginia's best two-way playmakers.
As Virginia's roster depth improved, Smith's minutes and overall production went down this season. In 18.3 minutes per game, Smith averaged 4.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.7 steals per game. But the argument could be made that Smith played an even more important role for the Cavaliers this season, as she was often called upon to play point guard with Yonta Vaughn missing several games this season. Smith appeared in all 32 games, starting 19 of them, gave UVA a massive lift at the guard position, was a plus defender, and could be counted on to make the key hustle plays.
Moderate box score statistics aside, Smith was one of the most underrated and valuable players on Virginia's roster this season and losing her to the transfer portal is a tough loss for the Cavaliers. With that said, it's an understandable decision as UVA is set to return a crowded group of quality guards with Kymora Johnson, Paris Clark, Olivia McGhee, Jillian Brown, and Yonta Vaughn all currently expected to be back next season.
Virginia's biggest roster needs this offseason are in the front court, as Mir McLean, Edessa Noyan, and Taylor Lauterbach are the only forwards expected to return at this point. Look for Coach Mox and company to bring in multiple additions from the transfer portal to reinforce the front court.
As always, we'll keep an eye on all of the roster movement for the Virginia women's basketball program this offseason at CavaliersNow.