March Madness Opening Weekend Prospect Review - Nick Smith Jr.
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It has been a very interesting season for the guard out of North Little Rock High School who some had in that No. 3 overall prospect coming into the season, but Nick Smith Jr. seems to have fallen out of that range now.
While still very much looking like a lottery pick, the 6-foot-5 guard has had an inconsistent season that injuries have played a major factor in.
Smith Jr. was not able to play his first game until Nov. 28th and played just five games before missing almost two months before consistently returning to the court on Feb. 11th.
The 18-year-old has shown the high level potential that many saw coming out of high school with 24+ point scoring outputs in three out of four games at the end of February and beginning of March.
While the thought was that Smith Jr. could be a three-level scorer, that has simply not come to fruition and it’s possible that the athletic concerns coming into his freshman season are real.
The 3-point shooting has at least been okay, 34% on 4.6 attempts per game, but other areas of his offensive game have definitely fallen below expectations as Smith Jr. is below 40% overall from the field and is averaging just two assists per game.
With their 10-point first round win over Illinois, and a couple 2023 NBA Draft prospects in their own right, we got two games this weekend from Smith Jr. as his Razorbacks also took on No. 1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen on the line.
Game 1 vs Illinois
It simply was not one of the better performances from the freshman guard on Thursday. Him looking sped up, possibly because of those aforementioned injuries, has been discussed at length in his evaluation and that definitely showed up in this game.
Starting with the defense, Smith Jr. is very willing to get in a stance and be engaged on and off the ball. That is a really good place to start but the fact of the matter is that it does not turn into much impact for him just yet. He is slow with his rotation at times, although he has active hands, and he is going to have to add more weight/strength to that frame.
Where Smith Jr. is really supposed to make his impact is on the other end of the court and that was not the case in this game. He struggled to really create advantages and go by defenders and ended up having to settle for really tough runners and jumpers which led to a 2-for-10 performance from the floor and six total points.
There were some bad decisions early in the game, and late, which actually led to him being benched to close out the game as Illinois tried to make a late comeback.
With that said, it was very positive to see how he carried himself throughout this game. Even after getting subbed out late, he stays engaged and positive with his teammates as opposed to pouting or being disengaged.
It was also great seeing the sheer emotion and attitude, in a positive way, that Smith Jr. played with the entire game. Would he be able to turn that positive mentality into more production in game two of the weekend?
Game 2 vs Kansas
Unfortunately, the production did not get better for Smith Jr. in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as he was held scoreless on just four field goal attempts in 16 minutes of play.
It was good to see him not force things and be willing to make the extra pass to his teammates, something that is not highlighted in his box score with just a single registered assist.
Defensively, it was more of the same as the energy is noticeable throughout the game but does not always end with positive results. You can tell that Smith Jr. is trying and wants to be an impactful defender but it needs more direction and foundational skills.
Even with a second rough performance, Smith Jr.'s team was able to pull out a one point victory over the No. 1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks which moves them on to the Sweet Sixteen.
This gives the Arkansas freshman guard one more chance, at least, to get his footing in the NCAA tournament and stop what seems to be a slide to the back end of the 2023 NBA Draft lottery.
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