On the final day of the regular season Sunday, former Mississippi State star post player Tolu Smith made his NBA debut for the Detroit Pistons, scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 22 minutes of an overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Smith was an excellent player for the Pistons’ NBA G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, for most of the year. He averaged 17.9 points and 13.7 rebounds per game in 28 appearances at that level, and was active for six previous games with the Pistons but did not play.
Over his four seasons with the Bulldogs following his freshman year at Western Kentucky, Smith averaged 14.4 points and eight rebounds, starting in 103 of his 108 games. He made 57.1 percent of his field goal attempts and was also a strong interior defender, helping MSU reach the NCAA Tournament in each of his last two seasons.
The 24-year-old Smith is the 25th former Bulldog to play in the NBA. He joins Quinten Post, who played at both MSU and Boston College, in making his NBA debut this season after Post appeared in 42 games with 14 starts for the Golden State Warriors. Bailey Howell is the all-time NBA scoring leader among Bulldog alumni, followed by Jeff Malone and Erick Dampier.
Like many teams with their playoff seeds secured, the Pistons rested most of their top rotation players Sunday, allowing Smith to get significant playing time. Detroit is the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and will play the New York Knicks in the first round of the postseason.
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