The Florida Gators men’s basketball team found themselves in a bit of a jam shortly after the season ended. With a recruiting class of one and over a third of the roster departing, they got to work and have filled all but one vacancy. While he hasn’t been connected to the team yet, Texas Tech transfer Tyreek Smith would make a lot of sense as that final piece of the puzzle.
Smith played his freshman season for the Red Raiders in 2020-2021, and although his surface numbers aren’t very appealing, there’s more to the story than his 2.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.
As one of lowest men in the pecking order among Texas Tech forwards, he was given under ten minutes per game. He was infrequently entrusted with the ball in those minutes, but when he got chances, he made good on them. Smith was in the 93rd percentile in efficiency as a cutter and held his own in the pick and roll. Small sample size disclaimers obviously apply here, but at the very least, he’s shown the potential pull his weight on offense.
More telling than any of that, Florida was among the schools in his top five and he’s exactly what the team needs right now.
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White and his staff have mainly prioritized adding guard depth, but there is still work to be done in the frontcourt. The Gators lost two forwards to the transfer portal, and it’s still unclear whether Keyontae Johnson will ever play competitively again. They’ve added CJ Felder to the roster, but it would seem prudent to cushion that depth a little more with a second transfer.
Another aspect of his game that we didn’t discuss earlier and may appeal to the Gators is three-point shooting. The sample is limited, but Smith hit 37.5% from beyond the long line in 2020-2021. That’s not the role he is built for, but it adds an extra dimension to his game that will prevent defenses from committing too hard in the paint when he’s off the ball. White used Anthony Duruji in a similar role last year and may be drawn to Smith for the same reason.
Finally, as a 20-year-old, there’s still plenty of time for Smith to get better. He didn’t have a big role with Texas Tech last year, and frankly, he hardly forced their hand for more playing time. With the Gators, he’d be in healthy competition with Felder and Samson Ruzhentsev for minutes. However, there’s enough depth on the roster that he won’t be pressed into service if he’s unready. With four remaining years of eligibility, there’s no need to rush things, but he could be a tidy building block for the team going forward.
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