Sitting Down With Orono's Jordan Smith to Talk Sports, School and the Future

Jordan Smith, a 6-foot-3 senior guard and four-year starter from Orono, helped lead the Spartans to their first ever state title with a 85-76 win over Columbia Heights in the Class AAA title game last month.

Smith officially put an end his high school basketball career last weekend in the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Series, played in St. Cloud and at Macalester College. He scored 12 points to lead the Green All-Stars to a 136-108 win over the Gold Stars in the title game Saturday.

As a senior, Smith averaged 21.5 points per game this season and helped lead the Spartans to a 28-4 mark. He scored in double figures in 29 of 32 games and had 72 points in their three state tournament wins.

Smith paced the Spartans to a 24-6 mark as a junior, who lost to Winona 70-57 in the first round of the Class AAA state tournament. He averaged 22.5 points per game and scored in double figures in 28 of 30 games with a season-high 39 points versus Wayzata.  

He also shined as a member of the 43 Hoops AAU team the past several seasons.

Patch.com caught up with Smith and sat down to talk about basketball, school and the future.

It’s been a week since you won the state title. Are you back to earth yet?

“Not really. It hasn’t really hit me yet. It is like the ultimate high finishing the season on top.”

What was it like going back to school on Monday?

“It was really cool. They had a pep rally for us at school. Tuesday, we went to the elementary schools and went around and talked to the kids and everything. It was really cool, the reception that we got from the community. It was really fun.”

Does that make all those long hours in the gym seem worth it now?

“Absolutely. That what’s we’ve been doing since we were five years old, playing basketball and hoping to get a state championship and we were able to do that. It’s the perfect way.”

You had a lot of seniors on your team. Does that make it mean even more playing with friends and players that you have played with for a long time?

“Exactly. We have played together forever. Not only for me, but for everybody else, it says so much about those guys that we were able to go through each level and eventually get better, so we could win.”

You had a tough path to win the state title. You were down 18 points to St. Cloud Apollo in the first round. What was the thought then?

“I think Coach said it the best. We never really get nervous when we play. I think that we get motivated. We just kind of looked at each other and say ’Let’s get going.’ It was obviously a little bit scary getting down 18. We didn’t not want to go out in the quarterfinals again. We knew that Johnson (the defending Class AAA champions) lost and we came back and said that we really have a chance to win this thing, let’s pick it up and we came back for the win.”

You made the great comeback and took the lead, but Apollo tied the game with two free throws with five seconds left. They scored the opening basket of overtime, but never scored again.

“They had seen us once before, obviously up at St. Cloud. Even though they had seen us already, it is tough for them to play a whole game and go into overtime with our defense and the way that we ran up the floor. No one really expected that from us, but we were able to run on people and I think that caught people by surprise.”

In the second round, you played Waconia, a Wright County Conference opponent that you lost to twice in the regular season. They always say that it is tough to beat the same team three times. Is that the mentality that you went into the game with?

“That is exactly what we went into with. I think the first two games we played them, we didn’t feel that we played that well. We thought that it was a kind of a fluke that they beat us by so much. We knew that going in that we had the confidence and we were playing the best ball of the year. We knew that we could pull it out.”

In the state championship game, you got into a little foul trouble of your own. However, the key of the game seemed to be when Columbia Heights star Zach Lofton picked up his fourth foul. You went on a run to go up 70-57. They came back to cut it to four points, but you hit some big free throws down the stretch.

“We were listening to the announcers on TV and they said that if it got into a running game, it would favor Columbia Heights. We disagreed with everybody who said that. We got into a running game with them and we didn’t think that anyone could hang with us and nobody did hang with us, especially when Zach got into foul trouble. They didn’t really have a second guy to go to and fortunately for us, we were able to pull it out.”

Besides the state title, what other things are going to stand out in your mid for your career at Orono?

“Leading scorer in school history. I think that is pretty cool. There has been a lot good guys who have come through Orono with Jon Leuer and all those guys. The state title and just what we had as a team. Just the camaraderie that we had. That is the one thing that I will take away the most.”

What is the latest with your college plans?

“Me and my dad are going down on a couple of college visits. We are going down to Butler and Wisconsin. I have a couple of options there. I am waiting to hear back from Penn as to if I got in or not.”

Has that been a little bit stressful not knowing where you are going to go?

“I’ve tried to keep it off the radar as we were playing in the state tournament. I kept that in the front of mind and let everything else go to the back of it. Now that everything is over, I have to figure things out pretty quick.”

Will that be a big relief?

“It is not like I am worried about it. That is the main thing, it’s not like I don’t have options. Wherever I decide to go, it will be a great fit.”

Have you thought much about what you would like to major in at college?

“I’ve thought a lot about business. My dad is a businessman. My mom was in the finance industry. I would like to go into some kind of business, stock market or investment thing.”