NC State’s Dennis Smith Jr. threw down one of the more beautiful tomahawk dunks that you will ever see
Heralded freshman point guard Dennis Smith Jr. exploded to the rim with a one-handed dunk in a game against Rider on Wednesday.
Coming off a torn ACL injury suffered in August 2015, you could have forgiven Dennis Smith, the star freshman point guard for North Carolina State, for starting off slowly. His fellow 5-star freshman phenom, Duke’s Harry Giles, has just started to get onto the court this December after suffering a similar injury.
Instead, Smith is currently averaging 18.9 points per game and adding 5.5 assists, both tops in the ACC for a freshman. He’s getting to the rim at will, taking nearly 40% of his shots at the basket, and has been hitting his 3’s at a solid 38.5% clip. His explosion has been back, and he’s looked every bit the part of a preseason ACC Rookie of the Year so far — a great sign after a potentially devastating injury.
North Carolina State finished up its non-conference slate tonight, playing against Rider in a final tune-up before beginning the difficult slog of day-to-day life in the ACC. And in the second half of a comfortable win, Smith took half a false step to the baseline with his dribble and did this to the rim in just three steps.
His bench met the occasion, wandering onto the court speaking tongues and possibly looking to rip shirts right off their bodies.
The lesson here: if you’re going to tear your ACL, do it in high school.
North Carolina State would go on to win the game 99-71, and will begin conference play at Miami on New Year’s Eve.