As an eighth-grader in 2012, Smith led Burr RidgeMiddle School in Burr Ridge, Illinois to an Illinois Elementary School Association state championship. He was a four-year varsity basketball starter at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. On January 18, 2016, as a senior, Smith scored a career-high 38 points in a 71–68 win over Simeon Career Academy. Five days later, he scored 34 points against Riverside Brookfield High School. He led Fenwick to the Chicago Catholic League championship, scoring a game-high 27 points against St. Joseph High School in the final. In his senior season, Smith averaged 19.3 points, 4.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, helping his team to the Class 3A sectional final and a school-record 28 wins. He finished second in Illinois Mr. Basketball voting and left Fenwick with 1,800 career points, the second-most in school history behind Corey Maggette. He was named Pioneer Press All-Area player of the year and CCL player of the year. On March 26, Smith committed to play college basketball for Columbia over Dartmouth. He held offers from many other mid-major programs and was not rated by major recruiting services. Smith reopened his recruitment upon the departure of Columbia head coach Kyle Smith but was drawn back to program after a three-hour phone call with its new coach Jim Engles.
College career
Columbia
On November 11, 2016, Smith made his collegiate debut for Columbia, scoring 14 points in a 73–66 win over Stony Brook. He scored a freshman season-high 24 points in a 67–62 loss to Cornell on January 21, 2017. As a freshman, Smith averaged 13.6 points and 3.4 assists per game, starting in all 27 games, and set the program's single-season first-year scoring record with 368 points. On December 10, he scored a sophomore season-high 28 points in a 73–68 loss to Navy. He finished the season averaging 17.6 points, which led his team and ranked second in the Ivy League, and a conference-high 4.6 assists per game. Smith collected second-team All-Ivy League and third-team All-Metropolitan honors. On November 16, 2018, his second game as a junior, he scored a then career-high 31 points in a 94–83 loss to Youngstown State. On December 2, Smith matched his career-high in scoring with 31 points and 5 steals in an 87–86 double overtime loss to Delaware. On December 12, it was announced that he would miss the remainder of the season with a torn meniscus suffered five days earlier against Bryant. In eight games, Smith averaged 15.8 points and 5 assists per game. Smith returned to action in his senior season debut on November 5, 2019, scoring 22 points in a 65–63 loss to Lafayette. On February 15, 2020, he scored a career-high 38 points in a 77–73 double overtime loss to Harvard. It was the most points by a Columbia player in a single game since Buck Jenkins scored a school-record 47 points in 1991. One week later, Smith scored 37 points in an 83–65 loss to Yale. As a senior, he averaged a conference-leading 22.8 points, 4.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game while being named to the second team All-Ivy League. In his senior season, Smith scored 684 points, the second-highest single-season total in program history, and averaged the most points for an Ivy League player since 1989.
On April 10, 2020, Smith announced that he would graduate and transfer to Michigan for his final season. He was attracted to the program because of head coach Juwan Howard. Smith was ranked the 11th best graduate transfer according to ESPN and chose the Wolverines over offers from Gonzaga, Arizona and Seton Hall.
Career statistics
College
Personal life
Smith was a fan of the Chicago Bulls while growing up. He became close friends with NBA player Jimmy Butler after meeting him at his high school team's Jordan Brand apparel unveiling presentation in 2016. He has trained with and lived with Butler in the offseason and has been mentored by him.
