State College, Pa. - February 21, 2002 - Penn State Nittany Lion basketball stand-out Tyler Smith (Lake Bluff, Ill.) has been named to the Verizon Academic All-District 2 team as voted on by the districts sports information directors.
Smith joins Ahmed El-Nokali of Princeton, Monmouth's Jason Krayl, Bill Phillips of St. Joe's, and Marshall's J.R. Vanhoose on the five-man team. The only returning starter from last year's NCAA Sweet 16 team, Smith is third on the team in scoring this year with a 12.2 ppg mark, second in rebounding at 4.8 rpg and second in steals with 27. He is shooting .423 from three-point land (22-52) and .752 from the free throw line (.82-109). Smith sports a 3.45 grade point average in telecommunications and will graduate this Spring. Last year, he was a starter on the historic Penn State team that went 21-12 and advanced to the school's first-ever 'modern day' Sweet 16. This season, Smith has been the anchor on a very young Penn State team. Smith has been co-captain and leader on a team that has over 60 percent of its minutes being played by underclassmen. Over the course of Smith's career, Penn State has been to the NIT finals at Madison Square Garden and the NCAA Sweet 16. He has also been a two-time Academic All-Big Ten pick and should repeat that honor this season. Smith won the 2000 team award for Most Improved Player and the 2001 Unsung Hero Award. He also won the 2000 and 2001 Scholastic Achievement Awards. In 120 career games, Smith has 685 career points, 401 career rebounds and a superb .424 career three-point percentage, hitting 53 of his 125 attempts. He is also a career .467 field goal shooter and has a .690 career average from the free throw line. Smith and the other four first-team Academic All-District players will now appear on the ballot for Academic All-American, which will be voted on later this Spring.
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