FAYETTEVILLE — Jordan Smith Jr. said he was too passive against Gonzaga in Arkansas’ first exhibition.
That was far from the case on Wednesday against Memphis, as Smith, who shot 0-9 from the floor against the ‘Zags, had 17 points on 7-11 shooting. Thirteen of those points came in the second half, when Smith had no qualms about taking the ball to the rack.
“In order for us to be who we are, we got to start somewhere by being aggressive,” Smith said. “Me being a point guard, the first play of the game, I went to the rim, didn’t make the layup, but it just showed the aggressiveness, and I feel like it set the tone for the rest of the game. The aggressiveness standpoint from last game, I had to do better this game, but carry it over, and it showed the results.”
Smith had nine points in the first four minutes of the second half to kickstart what ended up being the deciding stretch of the game for Arkansas, which saw the Razorbacks pull out to a 65-44 lead by the first media timeout of the half.
“Any performance, you just got to have the next play mentality,” Smith said. “So if I play good, got to forget about it. If I play bad, got to forget about it, because the next game presents itself for a different challenge every time. So, this game I played well. The last game I didn’t play well. I got to put both games behind me. We have our first real game coming up soon, so I got to put all my focus towards that.”
The Razorbacks showed that they could still win, and do so against a good team in Gonzaga, without Smith playing his best offensively. Wednesday wasn’t necessarily Smith’s possible peak either, but Arkansas’ offense looked much more fluid with the Washington, D.C., native scoring the basketball.
“Jordan was more seasoned tonight,” Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway said. “He wasn’t this seasoned against Gonzaga. He kind of rushed himself. He was more under control today.”
A good night offensively isn’t necessary for Smith, a versatile, athletic defender, to have a good game. As Arkansas head coach John Calipari explained, it shouldn’t be, either.
“You have other guys that are trying to judge their game, and their emotions, and their spirit on if I’m making shots,” Calipari said. “What does that mean you’ll be all year? You’ll be up. You’re gonna be down. You’ll be up. You’ll be down. You’ll be up.”
Smith isn’t that type of player, but it’s safe to say he was up on Wednesday, and for good reason.
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