Evansville transfer Dru Smith committed to Missouri on Friday morning, as first reported by Corey Evans of Rivals.com. Smith will be required by NCAA transfer policy to sit out the 2018-19 season but will be eligible to play two years after that transfer period. He was offered by Missouri on April 4 and chose the Tigers over Xavier and Virginia Tech.
Smith, a 6-foot-3 point guard and Evansville native, averaged 13.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game last season at Evansville, a Missouri Valley Conference school. Those totals inflated with his role after he averaged 5.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists his freshman season.
He joins a recruiting class for Missouri that includes Mark Smith, Torrence Watson, Xavier Pinson, Javon Pickett and KJ Santos. It leaves the Tigers with one scholarship left to give ahead of the 2018-19 season, assuming freshman Jontay Porter stays in the NBA draft. If Porter elects to return for his sophomore year, the team will be out of scholarships.
Landing another point guard to accompany Mark Smith, who is also sitting next year through transfer ineligibility, could remove Missouri among the list of four final suitors for St. Louis product Courtney Ramey, the top undeclared 2018 point guard. The Tigers are waiting on his upcoming decision.
They have also drawn interest from 6-foot-7 combo forward Blake Hinson, who hails from Florida but played in Wichita, Kansas for Sunrise Christian Academy last season. Hinson was originally a top-100 2019 recruit, but he reclassified to play college ball a year early. He visited Missouri this week and is considering the Tigers along with Ole Miss, Seton Hall and Washington State.
