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South Plains College

Smith signs scholarship to play for Arkansas-Little Rock

Smith signs scholarship to play for Arkansas-Little Rock
April 25, 2013
LEVELLAND – In a small ceremony Thursday afternoon in the Texan Dome's T-Club lounge, point guard Devonte Smith inked a scholarship agreement to continue his athletic and academic pursuits at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

Smith, who started each of the 65 games he played in during his two years in Levelland, will look to help lead and improve a team that finished with a 17-15 record as well as a first round loss to Florida International in the Sun Belt Conference.

Arkansas-Little Rock has had two consecutive first round exits from the conference tournament following a tournament championship and a berth to the NCAA Tournament in 2011.

Smith is regarded as an unselfish point guard who can run the floor and always looks to pass first.  During the press conference, Texan head coach Steve Green was highly complimentary of Smith and the two years he was on the men's basketball roster.

"I have had maybe seven teams that could have won a national championship and every one of those had a distinct characteristic." Texan head coach Steve Green said, who then tapped Smith on the arm and added, "this right here."

Smith came eight assists shy of breaking Landon Tatum's all-time SPC assist record, finishing his career with 343 and said he ultimately chose to attend Arkansas-Little Rock because it closely resembled the family atmosphere he experienced at South Plains.  

During his freshman campaign, Smith helped guide the Texans to a historic season in which they became only the sixth team in the history of the NJCAA to complete an undefeated season, defeating Northwest Florida State College 81-68 to win the NJCAA title.  For his efforts, Smith was named the 'Small Player' of the tournament.