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Tom Hart explains how Auburn could try to get even more out of Jabari Smith Jr.
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Tom Hart was on the call for ESPN on Tuesday night as Arkansas pulled off the 80-76 overtime upset of No. 1 Auburn in front of a record Bud Walton Arena crowd.
Jabari Smith Jr., the potential No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, played well for the Tigers, leading the team with 20 points.
But, on Wednesday’s edition of “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX, Hart explained how he thinks Auburn can get even more out of its freshman star:
.@Tom_Hart of the @SECNetwork stopped by @MacandCube after calling last night's Auburn-Arkansas game to discuss Jabari Smith and the coaching staff needing to encourage him to be a more aggressive scorer. pic.twitter.com/qRnejF6XcD
— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) February 9, 2022
“I don’t think (Pearl) needs to call more plays for (Smith),” Hart said. “He does that. I mean, the first play of the game, they ran it for him. They ran the first play of the game for him at Georgia — a little flex cut where he could get to the block and they put a wrinkle in where he could run a curl off of it. Last night, it turned into a baseline jumper off of the flex cut.
“It’s just a matter of being aggressive. … He has the ability, and you’ve seen it, to where he can take over games. But he doesn’t have guards that always get him the ball in a great position. And, he’s responsible for it as well in that he passes up shots that they want him to take. He passed one up in the second half last night in transition when he was on the right wing. That’s your shot. Shoot it. He passed it up and gave it to a teammate in the corner. … It’s nothing Auburn is doing from a coaching standpoint. It’s encouraging him to continue to be more aggressive and to be more selfish.”
Will the star freshman develop more of a killer mentality as the season goes on? We’ll find out starting on Saturday when the Tigers host Texas A&M.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
