The Wolfpack men’s basketball team landed one of the top recruits in the nation for 2016, when five-star point guard Dennis Smith Jr. announced Thursday that he will be attending NC State.
The Fayetteville native is currently the top-ranked point guard and fourth best overall prospect in the ESPN 100 for 2016. Among the schools in contention for the star were Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Louisville and Kentucky.
“Growing up an NC State fan, I knew they would be one of my top schools,” said Smith in an interview with ESPN.com.
One of the factors that sealed the deal was Wolfpack head coach Mark Gottfried’s commitment to land the top recruit.
“Coach Mark Gottfried made me a priority, showing up, sitting in the front row to all my games in the live periods,” Smith told ESPN.com. “That loyalty meant a lot to me.”
Smith was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina last season and averaged 21.8 points per game. He led Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville to the North Carolina state 1A semifinals.
For now, Smith is focused on rehabbing a torn ACL he suffered during the semi-finals of the Adidas Nations event Aug. 2nd. Despite the injury, Smith remained optimistic about his recovery.
“It’s actually going a little faster than I expected,” Smith told ESPN.com. “I have gone from walking with two crutches to one crutch…I am beyond excited.”
With 6-foot-5 combo guard and Conference USA Freshman of the Year Torin Dorn sitting out this season after transferring from UNC-Charlotte, the Wolfpack backcourt looks stacked for 2016.
Now, Gottfried and his staff will look to lock up another talented North Carolina-based prospect in Edrice “Bam” Adebayo, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Pinetown, North Carolina.
