Terquavion Smith 'blessed' for time at NC State

Terquavion Smith likely played his final game for NC State following the Wolfpack’s first-round NCAA Tournament defeat to Creighton. After the loss, he touched on what these past two years have meant to him.

“I’m just blessed and glad that I got to play with the group of guys I got to play with, and I’m glad I got the coaches I have and I’ve got the staff that I have, and I’m glad I chose NC State,” Smith said postgame. “Every time I talked to Coach [Kevin Keatts] and when he was recruiting me all the way till now, everything he told me that would happen happened.

“I just had to believe in it and put the work in for it. I’m just glad to have this group of guys and the coaching staff that I have.”

Smith dropped 32 points in the loss but failed to connect on 15 shot attempts on a 44 percent clip. He ended his sophomore campaign averaging 17.9 points per game, good for second in the ACC this season. The Wolfpack would end the year with a 23-11 record (12-8 ACC) with Smith at the helm and finished sixth in the final standings.

He’s projected as a mid-to-late first-round draft choice in the upcoming 2023 NBA Draft. He’ll likely be forced to spend some time in the G-League to hone his craft but has all the makings of being a solid role player for whichever team drafts him thanks to his innate ability to score the basketball.

He could have declared for the draft after his freshman season after averaging 16.3 points per game that year, but elected to come back for another season. It paid off, on the stat sheet at least.

Still, some analysts don’t see Smith’s talent on par with some other first-round prospects. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony projected Smith to go No. 34 overall in his latest NBA mock draft — but this isn’t anything new for him.

Smith was rated as a four-star recruit in the 2021 On3 Basketball Industry Ratings, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. A North Carolina native, Smith was the No. 91-rated player in the class, No. 21 shooting guard and No. 4 player out of his home state.

The 2023 NBA Draft is set to take place on June 22 in Brooklyn. Before that, the NBA Draft Lottery is set to be finalized on May 16, coinciding with the start of the 2023 NBA Conference Finals.