The night was brought down by lethargic looks and a snoozing crowd, but a bright spot lit up the Hall. The Orange Krush chanted, “He’s our freshman,” to which every Illini fan nodded, smiled and answered back with a gloating, “You bet he is.”

Without bashing anyone on our team, this kid has got to start. He is just a freshman, but when No. 31 dashes around the court draining baskets and rocking a huge smile, his place belongs on the floor. The main question about this team heading into the season is, “Where are the points going to come from?” Somebody put a big spotlight straight on Peoria when he committed last season and we are glad he is here now.

Before getting to what’s extremely obvious, let’s cover a few hidden aspects of Jamar Smith that helped Illinois get the 75-49 victory.

No fan got up yesterday morning and was excited to see Arkansas-Little Rock led by its star Lekheythan Malone. From my experience, a player doesn’t exactly see Little Rock as a glitzy affair, but a freshman playing in front of his home crowd after touring the country, in fact, does. Whatever life was breathed into Monday’s crowd, Smith was the one performing CPR.

Whether it was his 8 of 10 shooting night, or his alley-oop passes, he was bent on winning the game and having fun while doing it. Fans love players that have fun, and it’s refreshing to see a player smiling wide.

ÿWhat might be most impressive about Jamar Smith is his control over his game. I am not talking about his instructional video-looking jumper, I’m talking about a freshman who realized he had the hot hand and still didn’t get carried away. He finished with 23 points and only took 10 shots. He had three nice assists, but also made quick decisions to help the offense.

At times our offense gets stagnant, once again, not pointing fingers; but Jamar gets the ball moving and understands what the motion is trying to accomplish. It’s easy to guard a motion offense with one player holding the ball and the rest waiting for the next move. When Jamar is in the game, they move, they pass, they shoot, they score. His decision-making ability is far beyond his years, and the speed at which he makes good decisions would make a quarterback jealous.

The best part about Smith is he hasn’t been a one-game phenom, he has hit huge shots in just about every close game, and you could feel it was just a matter of time until he settled in enough to do this.

Why is it obvious that Smith should be playing these types of minutes and starting? The only thing that was keeping him back was his strength and his defense. His strength has yet to be an issue. He is very athletic and makes up for his strength with his off-ball movement and has shown no sign of wearing down.

His defense? Besides Dee, he could be Illinois’ best on-the-ball defender, hawking the ball handler into making mental mistakes and turning it over. Smith finished with two steals, and a couple other times he slapped the ball away from Little Rock point guard Buddy Harding.

Jamar gave Buddy a rough night. You could almost hear the popular toy jingle in the background.

My Buddy, my Buddy, wherever he goes, we go.

What’s really, really obvious, Smith can shoot the lights out. He fills up the scoring column and it’s going to be a very unpopular decision to leave him out of the starting lineup. Smith started the second half and received an ovation for doing so.

Tonight, Jamar Smith earned the spotlight. He carried himself like an upperclassmen. But remind yourself he is a freshman. The conquering hero will return to his dorm room and celebrate with a late night cafeteria trip.

Ian Gold is a senior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].