By: Justin Creech

            As he walked towards center court prior to Wednesday’s game against Old Dominion University a smirk began to stretch across Dre Smith’s face. By the time he reached center court the smirk had turned into a full blown smile. George Mason athletic director Tom O’Connor presented Smith a commemorative game ball for his Jan. 19 performance at James Madison University, where the junior guard set an NCAA record by going a perfect 10 of 10 from the three-point line, topping the previous best of 9 of 9 in the Patriots 96-75 win over its arch rival.

“It was just a good feel from the beginning,” said Smith of his performance against JMU. “When we first came out I hit a three, then John [Vaughan] hit one and then Folarin [Campbell] hit one, and that gave me confidence for the whole game. To start off like that was great especially in a game that you know is going to be very competitive.”

            Smith finished with a career high 34 points against the Dukes, besting his previous high of 26, which happened to come against JMU last year in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. Smith hit 7 of 8 from beyond the arch in the 73-62 victory. Smith, however, says his last two performances against JMU are no coincidence.

            “The biggest part about it is if you can’t get up for a JMU vs. GMU basketball game then you’re dead,” said Smith. “The game is so competitive and there’s so much history you know when you come into their building you’re going to be hassled. So, it’s a very emotional game and a very easy game to get pumped up for.”

            Smith’s intensity carried into the post game celebration as he continued to pose and yell to the crowd. Funnily, Smith didn’t realize his performance was about to put him into the record books until after the game had ended and he got, what he described, as funny looks from his teammates.

            “Everybody was looking at me funny and I was like ‘why is everybody looking at me funny?’” said Smith. “[Then] someone was like ‘you couldn’t miss’ and I just figured it was a figure of speech, and they were like ‘no you literally didn’t miss you hit 10 3’s’” and I was like ‘no I didn’t’ and they were like ‘yes you did’”.

               It is one of many performances in a season that has seen the modest and easy going Smith show why Coach Jim Larranaga brought the energetic guard to Mason from Cochise Community College.

            After averaging eight points a game in his first year with the Patriots, Smith enters tonight’s game against UNC-Wilmington averaging 10.7 points per game this season, including 15.5 during the Patriots current four game winning streak. Smith said after having such an up and down season last year he trained hard this off-season with teammate Folarin Campbell, with the theme of there workouts being consistency.

            “That’s what I didn’t show last year,” said Smith. “I would show up for a game and then you wouldn’t see me the next game. A lot of it is just taking the pressure off myself and stop trying to do so much and just play basketball.”

            Smith went a step further and called his junior college coach; asking him for game tapes. He said watching the tapes helped because Smith saw how relaxed he played and how that carried over to his on the court performance.

            His teammates have taken notice as well, particularly Campbell, who almost becomes giddy when he see’s how teams have tried to defend Smith this season.

            “Dre’s a shooter, and we know every time a team is in any kind of zone Dre is going to get out of it,” said Campbell. “He’s one of the best shooters I’ve seen and played with, so whenever a team is in zone I look at Dre and say ‘it’s your time to shine.’”

            Shine is what Smith has done as he is currently on pace to finish with the third best single season three-point shooting percentage in school history. He has made 52 of his 112 three-point attempts this season; 46 percent. What makes the potential feet even more impressive is Smith has only started nine of the Patriots 19 games this season. Three times this season Smith has scored in double figures off the bench. He scored 16 points in consecutive games against Drexel and East Carolina on Nov. 29 and Dec. 2, and then dropped 14 on Northeastern Jan. 12

            “I told him the other day I should really just bring you in off the bench,” said Larranaga. “The first time you get the ball off the bench you hit a 3. But, he’s been practicing and playing so well that we just decided he needs to get as many minutes as he can and that means starting both halves.”

            Smith is pleased he has made the transition, but does not feel he needs to be the main focus of the offense. He is more focused on he and his teammates continuing there strong play.

            “The system we play you are going to get the ball,” said Smith. “That is what’s great about this team is we make the second and third extra pass. No one is playing for themselves. They are playing for the name on the front of the Jersey not the back.”