Doubling His Efforts

(St. Louis, MO) – Players that care more about the team than their own numbers are a rare breed. Aareon Smith is one of those rare players, but he is also amassing some great numbers.

The senior forward recently eclipsed the 1,000 point plateau at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, but that’s just the beginning. Smith has been working, and I mean working, his way into the Triton record books.

As a high school player at Lafayette High, he was an energetic, athletic spark plug and scorer for Head Coach Scott Allen. “He was our vocal and emotional leader his senior year.  When he was good, we were good and vice versa.  I knew he could be a good college player.”

Smith has always been athletic, and has been a contributor at UMSL all along, but his senior year has been special. Allen says Smith is all about team goals and achievements. “He’s got one goal and that’s getting UMSL as far as they can go in postseason.  He never once mentioned scoring 1000 as a goal but one day he’ll look back and be proud.”

As his senior season comes to an end, he is finishing with a flourish. Last week he scored a career high 28 points against Quincy, and then crushed that personal best with 38 points at Truman State. Along the way, he sailed past that 1,000 point mark and is climbing the record books.

Heading into his final home game, Smith has made 170 free throws this season, good for the seventh best in the nation and fourth best in UMSL history. His 345 career charity stripe makes is also fourth highest for any player’s Triton career.

Lest you think he’s just good at getting fouled and making wide open shots (which he is), this is all about hard work. The former Lancer relentlessly drives to the basket and works tirelessly to rebound the basketball. Smith is just 6’4” but leads UMSL in rebounding and has collected a Great Lakes Valley Conference best 14 double-doubles. Why the ‘dirty work’?

The first part of the season, the Tritons were without center Tylor Wimbish and Smith had to become the team’s go to rebounder.

Allen says his family has always promoted the right kind of values.

“His mom and dad, brother & sister rarely missed a game here.  They were a great support to him and us.  They were definitely more interested in the “team” than Aareon’s personal accomplishments, which I think speaks volumes.  They deserve a ton a credit for Aareon and what he’s accomplished.”

As Smith concludes his UMSL career, he can be heralded as a throwback, team first player of a bygone era. In my three years of broadcasting Triton games, I’ve never seen him take a night off. Until this year, he hasn’t been the offensive focus of the team, but here he is, with more that 1,000 points, his name in the record books and he is one of the winningest players in UMSL recent history.

Before Aareon Smith arrived at the North St. Louis County campus, the Tritons hadn’t had two straight winning seasons since 1996. All four of Smith’s seasons resulted in a winning record. Smith’s teams are 68 and 42.

A player that cares more about winning than records, and then wins games and breaks records. That is a story worth telling.

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