BOSTON — Former Northeastern men's basketball player
Joel Smith (Leander, Texas) has signed a professional contract with Atenas in Argentina. The shooting guard averaged a team-best 16.1 points per game as a senior and helped lead the Huskies to the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title. He becomes the 11th Northeastern player under head coach
Bill Coen to earn a professional contract.
Smith finished his career as one of the best pure shooters in Northeastern history. He holds the all-time program record for career free-throw percentage (.851), and is second in career 3-point field goals made (243), third in 3-point percentage (.399), and 13th in career scoring (1,328). He played in 120 games during his four-year career on Huntington Avenue, making 90 starts.
During his standout senior campaign, Smith stormed onto the postseason All-CAA first team. The sharp-shooting Texan set the NU single-season record for 3-pointers with 83 and ranked in the top 10 in the CAA in seven statistical categories. He was the league's best free throw shooter and finished the regular season second in both 3-point field goal percentage and 3-point field goals made. He was the CAA's most proficient scorer, averaging a remarkable 1.71 points per shot attempt in CAA play, and he ranked among the NCAA leaders in five different statistical categories. Smith topped the 20-point mark 10 times and scored in double figures in 23 of 29 regular-season games. He shot an impressive 48 percent from the floor, including 43 percent from beyond the arc, and was a blistering 86 percent from the free throw line, the third-best single-season mark ever at NU.
In addition to All-CAA first team honors, Smith was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 10 first team following his senior season.
Smith, who suffered a torn ACL near the end of the Huskies' 2012-13 campaign, completed a rigid rehabilitation program that enabled him to resume his successful pursuit of a professional contract. He earned a bachelor's degree from Northeastern in human services and now is working toward completion of a master's degree through the university's College of Professional Studies.
Smith becomes the 11th Northeastern player under eighth-year head coach
Bill Coen to earn a professional contract. He joins fellow former Huskies Manny Adako (2007-10), Chaisson Allen (2008-11), Baptiste Bataille (2007-10, retired), Bennet Davis (2004-07), Matt Janning (2007-10), Bobby Kelly (2004-07, retired),
Jonathan Lee (2010-13),
Dinko Marshavelski (2010-11, 2013), Nkem Ojougboh (2008-10, retired), and Eugene Spates (2007-09). Former Northeastern great J.J. Barea (2003-06) is averaging 8.3 points and 3.7 assists for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, giving Northeastern nine active pro players.
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