Jordan Smith Jr. excited for ‘challenge’ of SEC, playing for Calipari
After the greatness that Darius Acuff Jr. produced last season, it’s going to be hard for any incoming freshman to live up to it, but five-star guard Jordan Smith Jr. is next in line.
The Washington, D.C. native has a lot of the same accolades coming out of high school that Acuff had: McDonald’s All-American, Naismith Player of the Year considerations (Smith won the award, Acuff was a finalist), Gatorade National Player of the Year, MaxPreps National Player of the Year and more.
There’s also the Nike Hoop Summit, where the best players in both the United States and the world descend upon Portland, Oregon, to face off. Arkansas had two signees there — Smith, along with five-star wing Abdou Toure — and both showed up in a big way.
Smith played for Team USA and finished with 13 points and five rebounds to go along with one assist in 25 minutes of action. Toure played for Team World and had 19 points, five blocks, six rebounds, one assist and one steal in 25 minutes of action.
Prior to the game, Smith talked with Krysten Peek about why he chose to come to Arkansas and play for head coach John Calipari.
“He’s going to challenge me a lot, but just to see all the guards that he’s had it’s just really impressive,” Smith said. “Like he has guards like me, guards that are not like me, so he’s had every guard that you can really imagine. So it can be done, so I’m just really excited to see what happens and I just hope he challenges me at the highest level because I want the challenge, I want to see what college is about, but I also just want to have fun in the process.”
Smith’s recruitment process was slow-playing and he committed in February. He chose Arkansas over offers from programs like Duke, Georgetown, Kentucky and Syracuse, which, coupled with Arkansas, comprised his top schools list.
The Nike Hoop Summit was a win for Team USA, as it usually is. But for the second year in a row, it went to overtime. Team World had an 89-87 lead over Team USA with four seconds to go, and five-star Arkansas target Paul Osaruyi blocked a layup from Smith, but a foul was called on the ensuing rebound and Brandon McCoy sank both free throws to push it to overtime.
In the overtime period, Team USA did just enough to earn a 102-100 win.
On top of the Nike Hoop Summit, Smith also played in the McDonald’s All-American game alongside Andrews, and he talked before the game about the competition between he and Andrews on the floor.
”I’m looking forward to the competition,” Smith said. “I know JJ’s really good at what he does, but I’m also excited to compete with the best of the best. I feel like JJ, he’s proved to be one of the best of the best in the country by just being at this event.
“I love competition, I love having fun. I think JJ will put up a really good challenge for me to just have fun and compete at a high level. I love the competition. I love it, and I’m ready to see what JJ does.”
Check out full highlights of the Nike Hoop Summit here…
