Smith, Jr. Earns USBWA Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week Recognition
Central Connecticut's Darin Smith, Jr. was recognized by the U.S. Basketball Writer's Association as one of five Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week, the organization announced Tuesday. It is the second time this season Smith was named among the Robertson National Players of the Week.
Smith joined Nick Boyd (Wisconsin), Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville), Graham Ike (Gonzaga) and JT Toppin (Texas Tech) as this week's honorees. The weekly honor is given out jointly by the USBWA and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Awarded each year since 1959, the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding men's college basketball player each year. It was named for Robertson in 1998.
Smith was named NEC Player of the Week on Monday after posting the league's first 40-point game of the season. Smith won his league-leading fifth Influxer/NEC Men's Basketball Player of the Week award this season. Thanks to that 40-point outing, the sophomore guard from Springfield, Mass., netted double figures in a fourth and fifth consecutive games, averaged 28.5 points on 48 percent shooting from the field (15-of-31) in last week's pair of wins while adding 3.0 rpg. Smith was virtually unstoppable against New Haven on Thursday. Draining 13-of-20 shots, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc and each of his 11 free throw attempts, Smith racked up a career-high 40 points to guide the Blue Devils to an 81-76 victory over the Chargers. The 40-point outing was CCSU's first since 2013, and the first by an NEC player since 2024. Fourteen of the sophomore's points came inside the first six minutes of the second half in a stretch that saw the Blue Devils push ahead by 15 points. Two days later, Smith visited the free throw line 13 times and made all of those attempts to finish with 17 points. Twelve of those free throws came inside the game's final 3:10 to break what was a 47-47 tie. Smith leads the NEC in scoring at 20.3 points per game.
Smith and the Blue Devils Le Moyne on Thursday.
