Dru Smith is Mizzou basketball’s old soul and leader as Tigers eye NCAA Tournament
Dru Smith was hustling in a mad scramble for the loose ball, arms everywhere as kids piled into the lane. Even amid the madness, there was a noticeable dirty play: a Terre Haute South player shoved Smith’s face into the hardwood.
For a fleeting moment, Mike Adams said, there was some worry of retaliation. But this was Smith, his dependable guard whose selfless style allowed his teams to thrive. Instead of a reaction, Adams said all Smith did was get up and walk away without an ounce of negative body language.
“Then he went on to make six plays in a row,” said Adams, Smith’s coach at Evansville Reitz High School in Indiana. “It was just the best way to show young kids this is how you act, this is how you carry yourself. His ability to — no matter how heated he got — just be solid.”
Smith now stars for the Missouri Tigers as a key contributor, defender, hustler, point guard — whatever MU coach Cuonzo Martin needs him to be. Even when the Tigers battled injuries and ineffectiveness last season, there was a dutiful Smith bringing the ball up the court while shutting down the opposition on the defensive end.
The on-court accolades have followed after a successful debut season at Mizzou: Smith led the Tigers last year in minutes played, scoring, assists and steals. He was chosen preseason second-team All-SEC by league coaches and media, though he shrugged off the honor on the grounds that he still has to prove he can do it all over again.
Smith also said he isn’t worried about individual accomplishments, instead focusing on the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers fell short of that mark last year going 15-16 and 7-11 in the SEC, though the coronavirus pandemic canceled the postseason. Mizzou opens the season at 6 p.m. Wednesday against Oral Roberts, which is where all of Smith’s attention is at after an unusual offseason.
“When you’re talking pound-for-pound production of a guy, I think he’s as good as any guard in our league,” Martin said of Smith. “He’s a guy, he can go out there, have 10 points, have 15 points, have 20. But his impact is getting steals, guarding other team’s best guys, getting the big rebound, getting the assist. That’s his game.”
Leaving home
Smith shined in his first year at Mizzou, but he started his collegiate career at the only place he knew: the University of Evansville. He grew close to then-Purple Aces coach Marty Simmons, who put the full-court pressure on Smith’s recruitment. There was one time Evansville coaches showed up to a routine 6 a.m. shootaround just to make an impression.
Once Smith committed to the hometown school, it allowed for a smooth transition for his family, said Kendra Giles, his mom. Giles had just given birth to Smith’s younger brother, Jaxon, which she said was likely part of his decision.
Sparks flew in the ensuing years: Smith met his fiancée at Evansville. Marley Miller was then a 5-foot-7 guard on the Purple Aces women’s basketball team. Miller described Smith as the unassuming guard a grade below her, when his occasional hellos were merely a blip on her radar. But once they got to talking, they clicked almost immediately.
“He’s hilarious once you get to know him,” Miller said. “No one would guess on first impressions, but once you get to know him, he’s a straight comedian. We just got to be best friends right off the bat. It was just super easy to talk to him.”
Smith didn’t put up lofty numbers — which isn’t his style anyway — as he made the freshman all-conference team, though he says all he did was play defense. He took a massive jump his sophomore year, improving his defense while adding 13.7 points and 4.6 assists per game.
But once Simmons was fired, Smith elected to transfer — the first time he would leave Evansville.
It was actually Giles, Smith said, who pushed him to explore his options in the transfer market. High-major schools weren’t about to miss twice as droves of coaches reached out to Smith. That’s when he chose Martin and the Tigers, with an assist to MU assistant coach Chris Hollender, who also played at Evansville.
“It’s not like she was trying to get me out there,” Smith said. “It gave me this opportunity that I never thought I’d have. I gotta be thankful for this opportunity and you gotta be thankful for life and just go with the flow.”
Improving his craft
Adams calls it the “bug” — the obsessive fever he’s seen in a select few players through his 36 years of coaching basketball. The only issue, Adams said, was that Smith didn’t necessarily have that endless work ethic, at least in high school. But look out, Adams always warned. If and when Smith picked up that “bug,” he was destined to be special.
Smith agrees with Adams’ assessment today. He loved the game in high school, but there was no all-consuming marriage to it. That changed ever since he touched a Division I basketball court.
“Since I got to Mizzou, and at Evansville as well, there’s more of a culture of putting in extra work, getting in there on your own and stuff like that,” Smith said. “I’ve definitely changed that aspect of me.”
Part of that incessant work came during the pandemic, where Smith found his way into gyms. With all the added free time, Smith refined a specific part of his game: Shooting. He made just 29.7% on threes last season, a sharp drop-off from the 48.2% three-point mark in his final year at Evansville.
Smith said he’s a better shooter than he showed last year, enlisting Miller’s help. In between the hundreds of shots Smith put up this summer, Miller was in his ear all along, though she joked she “probably did a little more coaching than what he would’ve liked.”
“I have to be that example,” Smith said. “I have to do my best to be that steady presence out there on the floor. Someone that people can rely on. If they need help, I need to be able to put the confidence in them that they can go through me. I think just trying to be as steady and even-keeled and consistent as I can, game in and game out.”
Smith played in varying roles last season as Mizzou’s starting point guard. Consistency was occasionally an issue, but where Smith thrived was when he did all the little things to influence the game, he said.
The counting stats were solid — 12.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game — but that’s not where his value lies, Martin said.
“His game is not gauged on, ‘OK he had 25 points,’” Martin said. “OK, great, but what else did he do? Because he brings other things. We talk about it all the time: We like for guys to get money in practice. It might not check into the bank, but your teammates know about it. When you set a great screen, get a good assist, all those little things. He’s one of those guys that brings that to the table.”
The old soul
On one of the most experienced men’s teams in the country, Smith stands out — and not just because of his signature wavy hair. Smith, 22, is considered the old soul of the team full of fellow seniors. Mark Smith, a close friend of his, pointed to how Smith is getting married to Miller in about six months.
Their wedding is scheduled to be at a winery in Robards, Kentucky, about a 20-minute drive from Evansville. It’s not just that he’s getting married, though. Giles said her son has always been mature for her age. Miller pointed out how Smith never had a partying or wild phase, instead choosing to focus on basketball and school.
“When you think of the typical 19- to 23-year-old basketball player, a lot of them aren’t quite in the same position as Dru,” Miller said. “I just think his life is a little more old soulish than some other college basketball players and college kids in general.”
The upcoming season and his wedding are all Smith knows for sure about his future plans. His major is wealth management finance, his post-basketball career path. But he hasn’t put much thought yet into whether he will pursue pro basketball and what that will look like. Miller, a teacher at Alpha Hart Lewis elementary in Columbia, said she’s just along for the ride at this point.
That’s the one major area where they differ, Miller said. She likes to have everything set in stone while Smith goes with whatever flow he catches onto that day, week or month.
The only mission in front of Smith now is getting the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament.
“As of right now, I’m planning on graduating in December,” Smith said. “After the season, just kind of seeing where things go from there. As far as basketball, it’s whatever comes next.”