Mizzou Basketball: Mark Smith great find for Cuonzo Martin

By Leigh Oleszczak | Jan 25, 2019

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - JANUARY 23: Basketball going through the hoop and net during warm ups before a game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Missouri Tigers at Bud Walton Arena on January 23, 2019 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Razorbacks defeated the Tigers 72-60. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

Mizzou basketball struck gold with sophomore transfer Mark Smith, who chose to transfer to Missouri after playing for Illinois for a season. Smith has been great so far in year one.

Losing Jontay Porter for the season was a tough blow for Mizzou basketball. The results have shown that to be true, as the Tigers currently sit at 10-7 on the year and have won just one game in conference play.

One of the few bright spots on this season’s team has been the play of sophomore transfer Mark Smith, who is currently averaging 12.6 points per game. That’s second on the team, trailing only Jordan Geist, who averages 13.3 points per game.

Smith averages just under 30 minutes of play so far this season, up ten minutes from his lone season at Illinois. The new Tiger averages 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists, both up from his tenure at Illinois. The rebound numbers, in particular, are up quite a bit, but that’s due to being on the court more.

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Missouri lost to a not very good Arkansas team on Wednesday and Smith was the star in that game. He tallied 22 points and seven rebounds in 37 minutes of play. MU would lose 72-60, but it wasn’t for lack of effort on Smith’s end.

Making the NCAA Tournament is a pipe dream for Missouri at this point, but fans should be excited with what Mark Smith has been able to bring to the court. He’s totaled double digit points in all but six games this season, but even in those games he didn’t get to double digits, he was still an effective player.

This season hasn’t gone according to plan for Mizzou basketball, but losing their best player (Jontay Porter) before the season even began is a big reason to blame for that. MU has look overmatched in SEC play this year and if it weren’t for a horrendous Texas A&M team, they’d be winless in conference play.

Mark Smith has proven that he can be a good player in Columbia and hopefully that motivates some of the other guys on the team. The Illinois transfer picked MU as his next school and likely did so because the Tigers were on the rise. They made the tournament a season ago and looked to be turning the corner.

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Unfortunately, the loss of Porter has affected this team significantly. Smith, however, has been able to provide a bright spot for fans and he was an impressive “get” for head coach Cuonzo Martin.

Martin has done a nice job in his short time at Mizzou at finding local talent and getting Smith to come to Columbia was well done on his part.

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