Senior forward Aareon Smith of the University of Missouri–St. Louis men’s basketball team has been named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week.
Smith, a business administration major, averaged 33 points on 24-of-35 attempts from the floor (68.6 percent) and snagged 7.5 rebounds per game in helping UMSL to a pair of conference wins over Quincy and Truman State last week, which put the Tritons in a tie for second place in the GLVC West Division.
In the 65-63 win over Quincy on Thursday, Smith scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-18 (55.6) shooting, and added the two game-winning free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining in the game for the two-point victory. He hauled down seven rebounds in the win as well.
At Truman State on Saturday, Smith shattered his newly set career-high with 38 points, which is the second-highest scoring output by a GLVC player this year. He was 14-of-17 (.824) from the floor in 36 minutes of action, which included a perfect 10-of-10 second-half stretch. He scored 29 points in the final 20 minutes, including 19 in the first nine minutes after halftime. In addition, Smith netted his 1,000th career point, becoming the 16th player in program history to accomplish the feat and the first since Jonathan Griffin in 2002-06.
In addition to shooting nearly 70 percent from the floor for the week, Smith was also 42.9 percent (3-of-7) from three-point range and 88.2 percent (15-of-17) at the free throw line.
The St. Louis native earns his first career weekly honor and is the first Triton to be recognized by the league since Darian Cartharn on Feb. 25, 2013.
UMSL (18-9, 10-7 GLVC) will close out the regular season on Thursday, hosting Maryville at 7:30 p.m.
