In the shadow of the massive Tre Singleton transfer news, a four-year Wildcat entered the transfer portal yesterday in forward Blake Smith.
Smith is entering the portal as a grad-transfer, having used up all his eligibility at Northwestern. He announced his decision to try to play a fifth season at a different school via a post to X yesterday.
While Smith never got a ton of run in Evanston, he was asked to step up a few times throughout his career. Most notably, he was a key cog in the rotation down the stretch for the second NCAA Tournament team of the Boo Buie-era.
Smith was forced into action that season because the 'Cats dealt with a multitude of crushing, mid-season injuries. Both guard Ty Berry and center Matthew Nicholson missed the end of that year, so Northwestern needed Smith to provide a little bit of size and a little bit of scoring during that Big Ten Tournament and March Madness.
That season, Smith appeared in 11 games and started two of them, according to basketball reference. He averaged 2.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in an 13.7 minutes player per game. Head coach Chris Collins put a lot of trust in the inexperienced sophomore, and he did a valiant job holding his own against really good opposition.
The following year, as a junior, Smith saw action again -- this time he appeared in 18 games, but he only averaged 3.2 minutes in those appearances and 0.3 points. He mostly came into games at the end of blow outs or when the 'Cats needed to make a defensive stand. He was always stronger on that end of the floor.
This season, Northwestern had some grinders at the forward position in Singleton and Nick Martinelli. Angelo Ciaravino and Tyler Kropp also claimed minutes, and Smith found himself on the outside looking in of the rotation once again.
Now, he'll search for a new home where he can, hopefully, get back out on the court again. Unlike the Singleton transfer, this news should come with no disappointment factor for Northwestern fans.
Smith gave four years of hard work and effort to the program, and he deserves a shot to get more playing time. Any lower-level mid-major team would probably be thrilled to add a player who has spent four years learning under Collins. It would not be surprising at all to see Smith put up real stats next season at one of those programs.