By JACOB POLACHECK
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — After tearing his ACL last year at the Adidas Nations, Dennis Smith Jr. is back. Returning to the place where he first got injured a year ago Tuesday, Smith has been stellar, playing in the College division with Team Wizards.
“I thank God that I’m out here playing again,” said the 6-foot-3 N.C. State point guard. “This is where I got injured last year and I’m just thankful to be back on the court.”
With the season quickly arriving, Smith feels prepared to go out and have a great year.
“I think we’re gonna have a great team,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys returning and we just got Omer [Yurtseven] who signed with us. Our recruiting class picked up towards the end, so we should have a good season this year.”
N.C. State also added point guard Markell Johnson and power forwards Ted Kapita and Darius Hicks and returns bigs Abdul Malik Abu and Beejay Anya, who tested the NBA Draft waters but returned to campus.
Senior guard Terry Henderson returns from an ankle injury that sidelined him 7 minutes into last season. Charlotte transfer and former Conference USA freshman of the year Torin Dorn Jr. will play after sitting out last year.
As for his knee, Smith feels healthy, saying, “It’s great. I feel a lot better now because I’m finally lifting weights consistently. So, I’m a lot stronger than I was last year.”
“We’ve tried to be real conservative with him as far as not letting him do too much too fast,” coach Mark Gottfried told The Associated Press this week. “At his age, he can’t wait. He’s dying to play every day.”
There has also been speculation that Smith may be going one-and-done after this upcoming season. He’s currently projected at No. 6 on DraftExpress.com.
“I’m on a full scholarship for four years, so however long it takes me, that’s how long I’ll be there,” Smith said.
With a great showing here at the Adidas Nations underway, Smith seems ready to try to lead N.C. State to a national championship.
“We want to come out and win games,” he said. “We’re gonna take it one game at a time. We’re gonna get better as the year goes on, and eventually, we hope to win a national championship like everyone else.”
(The AP contributed reporting.)
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