Wayne State University Athletics

Men's Basketball 4/15/2020 9:00:00 AM Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Hall of Fame Video Series - Bryan Smothers

This is the eighth consecutive year that WSU Athletics has posted a Hall of Fame video for each of our inductees. Normally we post these videos during our "slow" time over the summer.

But due to the circumstances, we thought we would start posting the videos earlier this year.

Our fourth video for the class of 2020 is Bryan Smothers.

Bryan Smothers was a four-year basketball letterwinner (2007-11), who became just the second player in school history to record 1,100 points, 300 assists and 300 rebounds, joining 2006 Hall of Fame inductee Art Johnson in this select category.

Smothers ranked 10th in career scoring at WSU with 1,175 points when his collegiate career concluded. He was second in both free throw percentage (.854 – but had 135 more attempts than No. 1) and minutes played (3,249), seventh in three-pointers made (129), steals (147) and games started (86), eighth in both free throws made (276) and assists (308), tied-for-15th in games played (101), and 17th in field goals made (385).

As a senior, Smothers was selected to the All-Region Second Team by both the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) and Daktronics after receiving All-GLIAC South Division First Team and All-Defensive Team accolades.

He earned 2011 GLIAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors after helping the Warriors to their first post-season title since 1999. Smothers had back-to-back 20-point efforts in wins over Hillsdale and Findlay, followed by an 11-point, nine-assist performance in the Championship game victory at Ferris State.

A three-time GLIAC South Division Player of the Week in 2010-11, Smothers scored in double figures 24 times, while averaging a GLIAC-best 37 minutes a contest. His 486 points as a senior rank 15th all-time at WSU, while his 55 three-pointers made that season is tied-for-15th.

Smothers held three of the top 12 single-season free throw percentage marks in program history, including the top mark of .904 (85-of-94) in 2009-10. He is the only player to shoot over 90 percent in a season with at least 35 made foul shots.

His 151 assists as a senior is the fourth-highest total in school history, while his 1,110 minutes played is third all-time.

Smothers scored in double figures 58 times in his Warrior career, with 18 games of at least 20 points.

A native of Pontiac, Mich., Smothers earned his bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and later received a master's in social work.

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