Eric Musselman and Arkansas landed Nick Smith on Wednesday night.
Smith is a 5-star guard in the 2022 class who chose the Hogs over Kansas, Alabama and Auburn. He also received offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Texas. Smith, 6-5 and 185 pounds, will play his senior year of high school basketball at North Little Rock after transferring from Sylvan Hills. He is the Hogs’ first 5-star recruit since current Milwaukee Buck and NBA champion Bobby Portis out of Little Rock Hall in 2013.
Smith made his official visit to the Arkansas campus Sept. 10-12 and committed Wednesday from Arkansas Fitness and Athletics in Little Rock.
Smith is ranked the sixth-best recruit nationally in the ’22 class by ESPN, and 247 Sports had him at No. 9 in its composite national ratings. He was named the All-Arkansas Preps Player of the Year this past season after averaging 25 points, five rebounds and four assists as a junior for Sylvan Hills. He also averaged 19 points, three rebounds and three assists per game for the Brad Beal Elite AAU team.
Smith joins a 2022 recruiting class already loaded with three 4-star commitments. Musselman, who last year led the Hogs to their first Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in 25 years, also reportedly is in contention to land fellow 5-stars Jordan Walsh and Anthony Black, both small forwards, in the class, which is currently ranked third in the country.
