Russ Antoin Smith (born April 19, 1991) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who last played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball c ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East C ...

, playing a starring role as a junior in helping them win the 2013 NCAA championship, while earning third-team All-American by the NABC and the

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

. As a senior at Louisville, he was named a consensus first-team All-American. , his 65-point performance remained the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

single game scoring record.

High school career

Smith was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at NY Presbyterian Hospital to Paulette A. O'Neal and Russell Smith. He went to

Archbishop Molloy High School Archbishop Molloy High School (also called Molloy, Archbishop Molloy, or AMHS) is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9-12, located on on 83-53 Manton Street, Briarwood, Queens, New York. It is part of the Roman C ...

in Queens, N.Y. and played basketball for head coach

Jack Curran John Joseph Curran (September 6, 1930 – March 14, 2013) was an American baseball and basketball coach. Curran was the head coach at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York. Curran won more basketball and baseball games than any ...

. He led the New York City Catholic league ( CHSAA) in scoring as a junior averaging 24.5 points a game and as a senior averaging 29.6 points, he also had a 7.3 rebound and 3.2 assist average his final season for the Molloy Stanners. His career high in points was 47, which he reached twice as a senior against St. Francis Prep and Christ the King. Smith was named to the 2009 New York State Sportswriters Association all-state team, made the first-team all-CHSAA "AA", and New York Daily News All-Queens first team as a senior. He played in the 2009

Jordan Brand Classic The Jordan Brand Classic is a high school All-Star basketball game played annually in April. The game's rosters feature the best and most highly recruited high school boys in the senior class including alumns like Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Bl ...

Regional Game at Madision Square Garden on April 18. Where he scored 27 points and earned co-MVP honors as his City team beat the Suburban team 129–120. Russ played prep school basketball at

South Kent School South Kent School, a private all-boys boarding school in South Kent, Connecticut, United States, is located on a campus in western Litchfield County. It is sited on Spooner Hill east of Bull's Bridge, overlooking the former Housatonic Valley ...

in 2010 averaging 19.7 points and 3.9 assists a game as South Kent went 20–12 on the season.

College career

Recruitment

Louisville overlooked Smith at first. Assistant coaches

Ralph Willard Ralph Daniel Willard (born March 28, 1946) is an American former basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Western Kentucky University from 1990 to 1994, the University of Pittsburgh from 1994 to 1999, and the College of ...

and Steve Masiello were on a recruiting trip in South Kent in September 2009, looking at another player. They saw Smith, who they thought would be perfect for their system. Masiello had also known Smith's father since he was 15. Louisville started looking at Smith seriously, and Smith liked Louisville so much that he tried to commit before he had a scholarship offer. Houston, LaSalle, Baylor and Arizona showed interest before he signed with the Cardinals.

Freshman year

Upon coming to school, Smith chose uniform #2. Injuries limited Smith's playing time as a freshman. He had a broken foot, concussion, strained foot, and sore knee during the season and only saw action in 17 games. Smith was so miserable with the injuries and lack of playing time he decided to leave Louisville and go back home. He had even called his mom and told her he was coming home. But that day against West Virginia, coach Pitino put him in and told him to play hard. He had 3 points, 2 rebounds, one steal, and played good defense in his nine minutes of action. Helping spark the Cardinals' comeback from down 11 to win by 1, when

Peyton Siva Peyton Robert Siva Jr. (born October 24, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for Louisville, leading the school to two Final Fours in ...

hit a layup at the buzzer. After that, he decided to stay. The Cardinals reached the championship game of the 2011 Big East men's basketball tournament but lost to

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Louisville finished the season 25–10, 12–6 in the 2010–11 Big East season tied for 3rd in the conference. They received an at-large bid and a #4 seed in the 2011 NCAA tournament where they were upset in the second round by #13 seeded Morehead State 61–62.

Sophomore year

During his sophomore year in 2011–12, Smith provided a spark off the bench. He was second in scoring despite being sixth in mins played for the Cardinals. In January 2012 he earned the nickname "Russdiculous" given to him by head coach

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA ...

, who has named a race horse "Russdiculous" also. Smith set a school record for steals in a season with 87 steals in his 39 games played. Louisville won four games in four nights to win the 2012 Big East tournament championship. The Cardinals advanced to the Final Four of the 2012 NCAA tournament, upsetting #1 seed

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

57–44 in the sweet sixteen and defeating #7 seed

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the regional final, where Smith led Louisville with 19 points in the game. Before losing in the national semifinals to arch-rival and eventual national champion

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. Smith averaged 11.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 2.2 steals a game for the Cardinals, who finished the season with a 30–10 record.

Junior year

Russ Smith Peyton Siva championship trophy

Before the start of the 2012–13 basketball season the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team was picked to finish 1st in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

in polls done by Big East writers and coaches. Louisville finished the regular season with a 26–5 record and 14–4 in the Big East to tie for a share of the Big East regular season championship with Georgetown and Marquette, who also finished with a 14–4 conference record. Smith learned about the death of his high school coach Jack Curran before the start of the 2013 Big East tournament. Louisville played Villanova in their first game of the tournament, Smith scored 28 points and said "Today was definitely Coach Curran Day for me, and it will be the rest of my life" in postgame interview that aired live on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Russ was named to the Big East All-Tournament Team and his team won the Big East tournament Championship game versus Syracuse by a score of 78–61 after trailing by 13 at halftime. Louisville, with a 29–5 record, was selected the #1 overall seed for the 2013 NCAA tournament. In his first two games of the NCAA tournament at

Rupp Arena Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Central Bank Center (formerly Lexington Center), a convention and shopping facility o ...

he had 23 points versus

North Carolina A&T North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

and had 27 against Colorado State. Louisville fans liked what Smith was doing on the floor so much they started chanting RussArena near the end of the Colorado State game and made a Twitter hashtag #RussArena. He tied his career high of 31 points and the Cardinals beat the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. ...

77–69 in the Sweet Sixteen. In Louisville's 85–63 regional final win against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, Smith recorded 23 points and was subsequently named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament's Midwest Region. During the Duke game Smith witnessed

Kevin Ware Kevin Ware Jr. (born January 3, 1993) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Club Deportivo Hispano Americano of the Liga Nacional de Básquet. He is a former player for the University of Louisville. Ware received wid ...

suffer a horrible broken leg accident that left the team very emotional. Ware said "Just go win this game for me. Just go win this game. Don't worry about me, I'm fine." while being attended to by medical staff who was preparing him for a trip to the hospital. Louisville outscored Duke 64 to 43 after the Ware injury and credited Ware's positive attitude about his injury for their win. In Louisville's next game Smith had 21 points in a 72–68 win over

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

in the Final Four. Smith averaged 18.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.1 steals this season for the Cardinals who won the national championship over Michigan with a 35–5 record.

Senior year

On April 24, 2013, Smith announced he would stay at Louisville for his senior year in an attempt to improve his draft stock the upcoming year. On February 28, he was named one of the 10 semi-finalists for

Naismith College Player of the Year The Naismith College Player of the Year is an annual basketball award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the top men's and women's collegiate basketball players. It is named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. History an ...

. Louisville finished the season with a 31-6 record, earning a 4 seed in the tournament. Louisville opened against

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in the second round, Smith led the game in scoring with 18 points. After Manhattan, Louisville advanced 66-51 against Saint Louis. Smith tallied up 11 points and tied for the most assists with 7. Smith ended his college career with 23 points in the Sweet Sixteen, losing against Kentucky. Smith was selected on the Associated Press First Team All American list. On January 22, 2022, his No. 2 jersey was retired by the Cardinals.

College honors

*2013 NCAA Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player *2013 Big East All-Tournament Team *2013 Big East All-Conference First Team *2013 Lute Olson All-America Team *2013 Sporting News All-American Third Team *2013 NABC All-America Third Team *2013 College Sports Madness All-America First Team *2014 John Wooden Award All-American team

Professional career

New Orleans Pelicans (2014–2015)

On June 26, 2014, Smith was selected with the 47th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. The next day, his rights were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for the rights to

Pierre Jackson Pierre Deshawn Jackson (born August 29, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the College of Southern Idaho and Baylor Univ ...

. Following the draft, Smith noted his frustration in some draft analysts questioning his efficiency. He was frustrated by teams waffling over his ability to play point guard at the NBA level, and was frustrated that several unnamed big-time NBA draft prospects avoided workouts with him in the two-month build-up to the draft. He later signed his rookie scale contract with the Pelicans on July 15. During his rookie season with the Pelicans, he had multiple assignments with the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Mad ...

of the NBA Development League.

Memphis Grizzlies (2015)

On January 12, 2015, Smith was traded to the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

in a three-team deal involving the Pelicans and the Boston Celtics. He was assigned multiple times to the

Iowa Energy Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

in his rookie season. Smith made his playoff debut on May 3, 2015, in a 101–86 loss to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

in the Western Conference semi-finals. On December 17, 2015, Smith was reassigned to the Iowa Energy, but was recalled later that day. He was reassigned again on December 22, and recalled two days later. On December 29, he was waived by the Grizzlies.

Delaware 87ers (2016)

On January 13, 2016, Smith was acquired by the

Delaware 87ers Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

of the NBA Development League. Two days later, he made his debut for the 87ers in a 119–104 win over

Raptors 905 The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fi ...

, scoring a team-high 37 points in 28 minutes of action off the bench. On February 1, 2016, he was named NBA D-League Performer of the Week for games played Monday, January 25 through Sunday, January 31. The honor was the first of Smith's career. He helped Delaware to a 2–1 week, averaging 28.7 points (fifth in the league) on 48 percent shooting (28-for-58) to go with a league-leading 8.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals. On March 18, he recorded his first career triple-double after recording 20 points, 13 rebounds and 16 assists in a 116-98 win over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. On March 23, he set a D-League scoring record with 65 points on 24-of-42 shooting from the field in a 140–129 loss to the

Canton Charge The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, Ohio, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team plays its home games at the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland. The fr ...

. , the record still stood as did his record of 105 points in consecutive games. On March 29, he was waived by the 87ers after being deemed to have a season-ending injury.

Europe (2016)

On July 27, 2016, Smith signed a one-year contract with Galatasaray Odeabank of the Turkish BSL and EuroLeague. In December 2016, he parted ways with Galatasaray.

Return to the Delaware 87ers (2017)

On January 20, 2017, Smith was re-acquired by the Delaware 87ers.

China (2017–2021)

On June 3, 2017, Smith signed with Luoyang Zhonghe of China for the 2017 NBL season. In his debut with Luoyang, Smith scored 62 points (including 7 3-pointers made) and recorded 3 steals in a 138-123 loss to the Anhui Lightning. On July 5, 2017, Smith scored a career-high 81 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 7 assists in a 142-130 win over the Henan Golden Elephants. After that summer league's campaign wrapped up, he signed with the

Fujian Sturgeons Fujian SBS Xunxing Sturgeons (Simplified Chinese: 福建SBS浔兴鲟) or Fujian Xunxing or Fujian SBS are a Chinese professional men's basketball team in the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, Fujian. The "SBS" reflects c ...

for the 2017-18 CBA season.

Fort Wayne Mad Ants (2021–2022)

On December 30, 2021, Smith was acquired and activated by the

of the

. On January 7, 2022, in his first game in the G League since 2017, Smith scored 43 points in a 94–103 loss to the

. On January 31, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Smith averaged 16.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva (2022)

On September 2, 2022, he signed with Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the

Career statistics

, - , align=center , 2014-15 , align=left ,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

, 12 , , 5.4 , , .320 , , .182 , , .923 , , .5 , , .7 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.5 , - , align=center , 2014-15 , align=left ,

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

, 25 , , 30.8 , , .494 , , .385 , , .688 , , 4.3 , , 4.2 , , 1.9 , , .2 , , 18.1 , - , align=center , 2015-16 , align=left ,

, 15 , , 4.4 , , .318 , , .200 , , .615 , , .6 , , .7 , , .3 , , .1 , , 1.5 , - , align=center , 2015-16 , align=left ,

, 22 , , 37.0 , , .460 , , .304 , , .778 , , 5.0 , , 7.9 , , 2.1 , , .1 , , 27.9 , - , align=center , 2016-17 , align=left ,

, 25 , , 28.2 , , .436 , , .290 , , .837 , , 3.5 , , 6.2 , , 2.0 , , .2 , , 17.1 , - , align=center , 2016-17 , align=left , Galatasaray S.K. , EuroLeague , 7 , , 8.9 , , .356 , , .167 , , .682 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , .3 , , .1 , , 8.9 , - , align=center , 2016-17 , align=left , Luoyang Zhonghe , NBL-China , 22 , , 44.8 , , .495 , , .357 , , .856 , , 8.1 , , 5.6 , , 4.1 , , .2 , , 60.5 , - , align=center , 2017-18 , align=left ,

, CBA , 32 , , 33.8 , , .546 , , .336 , , .824 , , 6.9 , , 6.9 , , 1.9 , , .2 , , 33.6 , - , align=center , 2018-19 , align=left , Guizhou White Tigers , NBL-China , 18 , , 42.8 , , .436 , , .315 , , .860 , , 9.3 , , 4.8 , , 2.8 , , .2 , , 43.4 , - , -class=sortbottom , align="center" colspan=2 , Career , All Leagues , 178 , , 29.9 , , .476 , , .329 , , .816 , , 5.0 , , 5.0 , , 2.0 , , .2 , , 26.9

References

External links

FIBA profileLouisville Cardinals bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Russ 1991 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Archbishop Molloy High School alumni Basketball players from New York City Delaware 87ers players Fort Wayne Mad Ants players Fujian Sturgeons players Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Hapoel Be'er Sheva B.C. players Iowa Energy players Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Memphis Grizzlies players New Orleans Pelicans players Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Point guards South Kent School alumni Sportspeople from Queens, New York