UNLV redshirt Reggie Smith goes back a long way with Illinois freshman duo

By Ryan Greene

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 | 2:15 a.m.

While Reggie Smith was on his recruiting visit to UNLV after deciding to transfer from Marquette this winter, the Rebels' coaching staff had a unique selling point to throw at him.

They told him that if he came, the first game he'd be eligible to play in during the 2011-12 season — following the conclusion of the fall semester — would be against Illinois at the United Center on Chicago's West Side.

But what's tough on the redshirting freshman, a native of the Windy City's south suburbs, is that he won't be able to be on the floor for UNLV when it faces the Illini in Friday's NCAA tournament showdown in Tulsa, Okla.

The reason missing this one is harder than any of the several games he's already been at the end of the bench for during the spring semester is that Smith goes back a long way with several of the Illinois players.

"You have some of my best friends (over there) in J-Rich (Jereme Richmond) and Crandall Head," he said of the Illini's freshman duo. "They're really good athletes. Crandall's coming off of an injury, but they're starting to play him here and there now. He's a great defender. He's playing the point now.

"J-Rich is playing the small forward, bringing it up as well. They mix it up. I talked to them (Sunday) when we found out we were playing them. They called me, telling me they were gonna beat us, stuff like that. I wish I was playing."

Smith is heading back home for the remainder of spring break as the team takes off for Tulsa on Wednesday afternoon, and the best he can do for them this week is offer up some individual scouting reports.

He said he played pick-up ball with several of the U of I players last summer before heading off to Marquette and has crossed paths with them before that on the AAU circuits, but his most intimate knowledge is of Head and Richmond.

The trio began playing together on a travel team while in the seventh grade. Smith and Head lived three minutes apart from one another, while Richmond would occasionally head down during the summers or breaks from school from his hometown of Waukegan in the far north suburbs and stay for a week or two at a time. Over time, they formed a tight friendship triangle and consistently stay in touch.

Head, the younger brother of former Illini All-American and current Sacramento Kings guard Luther Head, missed his entire senior season at Rich South High while recovering from a knee injury and is toward the end of Illinois' rotation.

Richmond, however, was a McDonald's All-American last season and brought plenty of fanfare with him to Champaign.

The versatile 6-foot-7 wing is averaging 7.6 points and five rebounds per game and has battled inconsistency all season long. Despite some unfounded rumors of a potential transfer swirling around mid-season, Richmond, who committed to Illinois as a ninth-grader, showed some strong flashes this season. For example, in two games against top-ranked Ohio State, he averaged 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds.

But Smith said with a wide smile that he knows how his teammates can get the better of his old pal.

"Basically, try and get in his head," he said while laughing. "He's a great kid, but he's one of those kids who, if you get in his head, he'll lose it for a little bit. Other than that, just play defense.

"He's a very smart player. The most you can do is just try to contain him and hope he doesn't have one of those big games he's been having lately."

Smith will have to settle for witnessing this meeting on TV, hoping that his teammates heed some of his advice while he counts down the days until mid-December.

"This is the first time I've been out this long in my whole life," Smith said. "For me, being out for this whole year is really tough, but especially for this game. But I guess God blessed me with the chance to play them for my first game back next year.

"It should be fun."