GW Hoops / Transfer: Antoine Smith, Forward, 2018 - Transferring from Evansville

**Posted by dmvpiranha** 6/10/2023 12:48 pm

Antoine Smith Jr.
Year: 2018
Position: PF
Height: 6-7
Hometown: Westerville, OH
High School: Bosco Institute (Crown Point, IN)
Junior College: Collin College (McKinney, TX)
AAU Team: Ohio Basketball Club (OH)

Eligibility: Immediately eligible, one year to play

Statistics:
(from Senior year at Evansville) - 7.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.4 bpg; 40% FG, 36% 3-PT, 82% FT per 23.8 mpg with 31 GP (14 starts)
(from Junior year at Evansville) - 4.8 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.1 spg, 0.1 bpg; 49% FG, 44% 3-PT, 90% FT per 18.4 mpg with 24 GP (9 starts)
(from Sophomore year at Collin College) - 15 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.5 bpg; 49% FG, 36% 3-PT, 87% FT with 23 GP (23 starts)
(from Freshman year at Incarnate Word) - 7.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.3 spg, 0.3 bpg; 45% FG, 37% 3-PT, 81% FT per 22.5 mpg with 31 GP (14 starts)

Notable Performances (against D1 competition):
- 11/6/18 @ Texas Tech: 16 points, 4 rebounds; 5-9 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 4-4 FT in 31 minutes (freshman year at UIW)
- 12/19/18 @ DePaul: 15 points, 6 rebounds; 5-8 FG, 5-7 3-PT in 31 minutes (freshman year at UIW)
- 2/27/19 @ Northwestern State: 21 points, 6 rebounds; 8-15 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 2-2 FT in 36 minutes (freshman year at UIW)
- 11/22/21 vs. Rice: 24 points, 3 rebounds; 9-9 FG, 6-6 3-PT in 40 minutes (junior year at Evansville)
- 11/24/21 vs. Akron: 16 points, 2 rebounds; 6-10 FG, 3-6 3-PT, 1-2 FT in 36 minutes (junior year at Evansville)
- 2/8/22 @ Indiana State: 10 points, 2 rebounds: 3-3 FG, 2-2 3-PT, 2-2 FT in 14 minutes (junior year at Evansville)
- 11/12/22 @ St. Louis: 11 points, 3 rebounds: 3-4 FG, 3-4 3-PT, 2-2 FT in 25 minutes (senior year at Evansville)
- 11/30/22 vs. Southern Illinois: 12 points, 2 rebounds; 5-5 FG, 2-2 3-PT in 24 minutes (senior year at Evansville)
- 2/12/23 vs. Missouri State: 16 points, 6 rebounds; 5-10 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 4-4 FT in 28 minutes (senior year at Evansville)

There are roughly 25 players left in the portal who averaged at least 5 ppg and shot over 34% from 3, and on top of that there are maybe 15 forwards/centers who have produced at a reasonable capacity at the D1 level so given all that this is a solid pickup late in the cycle. Antoine was a history major and is looking to pursue his MBA so GW seems to be a great fit. His dad played a couple years at Dayton in the early 90s but that was before the Flyers were in the A10. Welcome to Foggy Bottom Antoine!

Links
Bio
DraftExpress
Game Log
Hudl
NY2LA
On3
Twitter Account
UIW Article
Verbal Commits

GW Commitment Tweet

**Posted by jf** 6/10/2023 2:20 pm

Great find on the commitment.
Very smart player, pursuing an MBA, does a great interview about his charitable interests.
Seems like very high character guy.
And looks like he will wear No.1, Mo Creek's old number. So hope that will rub off on Antoine as it did for
great grad transfer Mo.
Need Antoine to really hit the boards, along with the books.
Welcome Antoine and family to our GW family!

**Posted by Free Quebec** 6/10/2023 2:46 pm

jf wrote:
Great find on the commitment.
Very smart player, pursuing an MBA, does a great interview about his charitable interests.
Seems like very high character guy.
And looks like he will wear No.1, Mo Creek's old number. So hope that will rub off on Antoine as it did for
great grad transfer Mo.
Need Antoine to really hit the boards, along with the books.
Welcome Antoine and family to our GW family!

Evansville was one of the worst teams in D1 last year (352), but it seems like Smith’s shooting was a bright spot. Fairly low usage, but most efficient player on the team. Doesn’t seem like much of a rebounder, but he has shooting and length so hopefully CC has a good plan for how to use him.

**Posted by Long Suffering Fan** 6/10/2023 9:14 pm

Free Quebec wrote:
jf wrote:
Great find on the commitment.
Very smart player, pursuing an MBA, does a great interview about his charitable interests.
Seems like very high character guy.
And looks like he will wear No.1, Mo Creek's old number. So hope that will rub off on Antoine as it did for
great grad transfer Mo.
Need Antoine to really hit the boards, along with the books.
Welcome Antoine and family to our GW family!
Evansville was one of the worst teams in D1 last year (352), but it seems like Smith’s shooting was a bright spot. Fairly low usage, but most efficient player on the team. Doesn’t seem like much of a rebounder, but he has shooting and length so hopefully CC has a good plan for how to use him.

He also would provide something that the team is desperately lacking, namely players with any college level playing experience. Still, for some reason, I can’t get an old country song out of my head….”The Gals All Look Better Around Closing Time”.

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (6/11/2023 12:11 pm)

**Posted by Long Suffering Fan** 6/10/2023 9:22 pm

Also I interesting that his field goal shooting last season dropped to 40 % last season after shooting 49% each of the previous 2 seasons. Of course there could be a 100 different reasons why that could have occurred, but that is a huge difference.

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (6/11/2023 12:04 pm)

**Posted by GWFinalFour** 6/11/2023 9:59 pm

Long Suffering Fan wrote:
Also I interesting that his field goal shooting last season dropped to 40 % last season after shooting 49% each of the previous 2 seasons. Of course there could be a 100 different reasons why that could have occurred, but that is a huge difference.

I would guess that had to do with his increased role in Evansville’s offense. He played 5 more MPG last year as he had the year prior and nearly doubled his FGA in the same timespan. I can’t pretend I watched a ton of Evansville outside of the occasional time I had them in parlay, but I’d guess he was asked to do a lot more last season than he was used to contributing based off his box scores. To me, he seems like a solid role player who was asked to perform more like a star last season. Additionally, being in a bad offense (357 in Kenpom) certainly isn’t conducive to individual success. Given that he will most likely not be asked to stray too far from his comfort zone, I’d imagine the coaching staff will play to his strengths in the limited run he should get every game. Seems like a relatively high upside, definitely low downside addition to the team in my opinion.

Last edited by GWFinalFour (6/11/2023 10:00 pm)

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 6/12/2023 8:35 am

The saying, "beggars can't be choosers" is likely a bit too harsh here, but I don't think we're that far off. The upsides include:

adding an experienced player, hopefully one with leadership skills
adding a players with one year of eligibility remaining
adding depth, which iss everely needed at this point

The one potential downside, and of course I'm willing to wait and see what things look like on the court, is that the frontcourt needs some muscle and rebounding chops. Instead, Antoine at least statistically resembles another Keegan Harvey or Garrett Johnson, a stretch 4 who can shoot from the perimeter. Not that these guys should not be valued, but I am starting to feel like the most difficult player to replace isn't going to be Brendan Adams but Ricky Lindo due to his ability to control the boards. Am hoping that we have someone on the roster who can assume this role, or a combination of guys who can pick up the slack. (Max is great but given his height, should only be expected to do so much rebounding.)

Welcome Antoine to Foggy Bottom.

**Posted by The Ross-Man!** 6/13/2023 3:21 pm

7 posts in 4 days about a new player might be the least enthusiasm I've seen. Should we move this to the main board? Maybe people haven't seen it?

**Posted by BGF** 6/13/2023 3:22 pm

I think you're right. And I think I'm just the guy to do it.

**Posted by BC** 6/15/2023 5:00 pm

Article on official site: https://gwsports.com/news/2023/6/15/mens-basketball-adds-antoine-smith-jr-as-grad-transfer

**Posted by Alum1** 6/15/2023 7:20 pm

When you go to the market for some prime ground beef but all they have left is Spam. 😂😂. Not all that exciting, but a mature, experienced body. It is what it is.

**Posted by BM** 6/16/2023 10:48 am

So does he have two years of eligibility?

**Posted by GW0509** 6/16/2023 11:10 am

BM wrote:
So does he have two years of eligibility?

1

Cool insight from Antoine Smith about what it's like being in the portal via David Korn

**Posted by jf** 6/16/2023 11:17 am

Well, I would urge him to develop on rebounding/defending inside as much as he can to make
the most of this opportunity.
But whatever happens on the court, he sounds like a really thoughtful young man and that would
be helpful as a team presence and role model.