Bert Smith suffers apparent Achilles injury while officiating Mississippi State vs. Iowa State

College basketball official Bert Smith took himself out of Monday’s matchup between Mississippi State and Iowa State due to an Achilles issue. The game was halted early in the second half as the officiating crew consulted with both coaching staffs.

It was decided that Smith would leave, while Ron Groover and Jeffery Anderson continued the game running a two-man officiating crew for the remainder of the matchup. Pete Sousa and Tim Welsh, who were on the call for ESPNU, commended Smith for taking the step to remove himself from the game.

“His Achilles is tightening up, so (it’s a) precautionary measure,” Welsh, the former Iona and Providence head coach, said on the broadcast. “He’s going to go to the locker room and the officials are going to work a two-man crew for the remainder of the game.”

This isn’t the first time Smith has had an unfortunate incident happen to him while officiating a college basketball game. During the 2021 Elite Eight matchup between Gonzaga and USC, Smith suddenly collapsed near the Gonzaga bench. It turns out that his fall was related to blood clot in his lung.

The rest of the second half went off without a hitch. Iowa State would eventually cruise to a 96-80 win over Mississippi State. The Cyclones outscored the Bulldogs 53-35 in the first half, which proved to be the difference in the game. The second half saw Mississippi State outscore Iowa State 45-43.

Bulldogs guard Josh Hubbard scored 25 points during the losing effort. He added five assists and three rebounds — but also turned the ball over a whopping seven times during the matchup. Mississippi State would go on to turn the ball over 26 times against Iowa State

The Cyclones’ Tamin Lipsey mirrored Hubbard’s 36 minutes and 25 points, and logged six assists and three steals along the way. Lipsey scored 14 of those points in the second half.

Elsewhere in the Iowa State lineup, Joshua Jefferson scored 18 and Blake Buchanan scored 13. Four total Cyclones scored in double figures against the Bulldogs.

The victory improves Iowa State to 3-0 on the season. Iowa State will take the next week off before hosting Stonehill on Nov. 17. That sets up a two-game stretch in the Players Era Festival against ranked opponents like St. John’s and Creighton.