LU’s Smith works himself into the rotation

As Liberty’s talented freshman class developed, Austin Smith brooded.

Seth Curry earned national hype. Jesse Sanders quickly became one of the Big South’s best point guards. Brolin Floyd started every game.

Smith, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward, admitted he was “irritated” as his classmates gained confidence throughout the meat of the season. Not irritated at them, mind you, but irritated at himself.

In his mind, there was no reason why he couldn’t compete at the same level as his classmates. So he began to work harder in practice. He showed up early in the morning at the Vines Center to shoot, returned later at night after practice to lift weights and shoot some more.

Early this month, Smith’s hard work reaped results. Liberty coach Ritchie McKay was so impressed with Smith’s progress that he played him 13 meaningful minutes in a loss at Gardner-Webb last week.

Against Presbyterian on Monday, Smith was the first player off the bench. In a 33-second span, he scored a transition dunk on a nifty pass from Sanders, then hit a wide-open layup on another crafty pass, this one from Curry, which put the Flames up 18-5.

Presbyterian coach Gregg Nibert was forced to call a timeout, and Smith returned to the bench, where he was mobbed by his teammates.

So, yes, Smith’s confidence is up.

“But I’ve just got to keep getting better,” Smith said. “Sure, that made me feel good. But I can’t settle for just that. I need to keep pushing. I don’t want to be content with where I’m at right now.”

Smith’s sudden emergence over the last three games adds an interesting dimension for Liberty, which has won eight of its last 10 games and plays at Charleston Southern tonight.

Before the Gardner-Webb game, Smith hadn’t played more than 10 minutes against a Division I opponent. But in his last three games, he has 16 points and eight rebounds. In his first 16 games, he scored 20 points.

“It’s huge, more on the defensive end with rebounding than anything,” Curry said. “And he can run the floor, so he doesn’t slow our offense too much.”

Smith played a “shooting forward,” at Ironwood Ridge High School in Tucson, Ariz. He was never a classic, back-to-the-basket banger, so he’s comfortable pulling up for 12-foot baseline jumpers, like he did last Saturday against Winthrop.

So he fits well in Liberty’s motion offense. McKay was still the coach at New Mexico when he first noticed Smith in the summer before his junior year at Ironwood Ridge. New Mexico fired McKay, who quickly landed at Liberty a little more than a month later. McKay never stopped recruiting Smith, who weighed offers between Liberty and Northern Arizona.

“He’s practicing great,” McKay said. “Four of our top six are now freshmen, though it took him a little bit longer. The last two weeks in practice, you could see it coming. He’s been really, really good. And I’m really excited for the kid, because his talent is special.

“Now, once he gets used to the speed of the game and can stay a little bit out of foul trouble. … I think our team’s going to be a little more dangerous.”

Liberty played much of the season with a five-guard lineup. Even the top subs were guards. But over the last month or so, Smith and 6-9 junior Tyler Baker have rounded into form, giving the Flames some much-needed size off the bench.

With another matchup looming in two weeks with Radford and its imposing front line featuring 6-11 Artsiom Parakhouski and 6-8 Joey Lynch-Flohr, Smith and Baker’s continued development has been positive for Liberty.

“Coach had a lot of confidence in me, even when I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself,” Smith said.

“It took me a while to get in the swing of things. … I’m just trying to become better every day.”