UTEP basketball introduces freshman forward Tirus Smith

Tirus Smith will be one of the new faces wearing a Miner uniform this upcoming season.

The 6’9″ freshman forward from Petal, Mississippi averaged 14.2 points for the Panthers. Smith also got the job done on defense averaging 9.5 rebounds and two blocks throughout his final season in Mississippi.

In his senior campaign with the Petal Panthers, Smith recorded 10 double-doubles, scoring a season high 30 points against Neshoba Central High School. Smith then had another career-high game against South Jones High School, notching 19 rebounds in the game.

In just two and a half years playing varsity basketball, Smith scored more than 1,000 points.

Smith was named a member of the Clarion-Ledger’s “Dandy Dozen,” which lists the 12 best high school basketball players across the entire state of Mississippi.

Before arriving to El Paso, Smith was not sure what to expect. However, once Smith came to the Sun City for his visit, he was delighted with what he saw.

“Prior to coming here, they told me I was gonna be stuck in the desert,” Smith said. “That was what they told me. You are fixing to go out in the middle of nowhere. And then when I took my visit here, I remember looking out the plane and going, ‘Oh, Lord. Is it true?’ Then when I walked out the airport and I saw a city, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I can do this. I like this.'”