How Deivon Smith’s latest effort earned him accolades and a spot on ‘SportsCenter’

Brandon Judd
·3 min read
Utah Utes guard Deivon Smith (5) celebrates a buzzer beater at the end of the first half during a game against the Oregon Ducks at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Jan. 21, 2024. The Utes won 80-77.
Utah Utes guard Deivon Smith (5) celebrates a buzzer beater at the end of the first half during a game against the Oregon Ducks at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Jan. 21, 2024. The Utes won 80-77. | Marielle Scott, Deseret News

Deivon Smith is quickly making a name for himself on the Pac-12 scene.

The Utah guard took home his first league honor on Monday, being named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. That came after Smith nearly recorded his second triple-double in an eight-day span in the Runnin’ Utes’ 80-77 victory over Oregon on Sunday.

The 6-foot athletic point guard scored 24 points — his high in a Utah uniform — and added 11 rebounds and eight assists in helping the Utes snap an 11-game losing streak against the Ducks.

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He did this while replacing an injured Rollie Worster in the starting lineup for the third straight game and after posting a triple-double against Stanford the previous Sunday.

Smith also had 14 points, eight assists and four rebounds in Utah’s win over Oregon State last Thursday.

On Sunday, though, Smith had his best day as a Ute.

One of the highlights from the game was Smith’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer from near midcourt that sent Utah into intermission trailing only 33-32.

The play landed him on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” earning the No. 9 spot on the show’s top 10 plays of the day.

While Smith went into halftime with nine points, five rebounds and two assists, he was better in the second half.

His 15 second-half points were six more than any other Ute player, and he persevered through his rare mistakes to find positive ways to impact the game.

One prime example of that happened with around six minutes left in the contest.

After Smith turned the ball over twice in less than 30 seconds, his only two turnovers of the night, he shook that off and started arguably the key stretch of the game.

Jermaine Couisnard hit a 3-pointer with 4:51 to play to give Oregon a 67-63 left, but from there, Smith went on a 9-0 run to give Utah the momentum.

That included back-to-back 3-pointers that pushed the Utes back out in front.

Smith’s final bucket of the night also came after a rare off-target attempt, as he followed up his miss and got a putback layup to give Utah a 76-73 with 41 seconds to play.

Smith continued to credit his teammates for his strong play, which has been ramping up week to week since he became eligible in mid-December.

“I think we just have so much depth, and everybody plays hard, every single player,” Smith said. “Everybody plays hard, everybody pays attention to detail.”