Husker Basketball Great Andre Smith Passes Away

Former Husker men’s basketball great Andre Smith passed away over the weekend at the age of 64. Details on arrangements will be announced in the coming days.

The Chicago, Ill., native was a three-year starter for Joe Cipriano and Moe Iba, helping the Huskers to three Big Eight Conference runner-up finishes in his career.

A two-time first-team All-Big Eight selection, Smith’s senior season was one of the best in school history. The 6-foot-7 forward was named the 1981 Big Eight Player of the Year, as he averaged 18.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. He led the conference in scoring in conference play at 19.5 points per game, while his .589 field goal percentage topped the Big Eight.

Smith is one of only two conference players of the year in program history (also Venson Hamilton in 1998), while Smith also earned AP Honorable-Mention All-America honors in 1981. As a junior, Smith was a first-team All-Big Eight honoree and AP Honorable-Mention All-American, averaging 19.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in leading the Huskers to an 18-13 record and an NIT appearance.

Smith’s name is all over the Husker record books more than four decades following his collegiate career, as well as he is fourth on NU’s all-time scoring list with 1,717 points while he also ranks in the top-10 in school charts in career rebounds (753, sixth), field goal percentage (.586, fourth), field goals made (673, fourth) and attempted (1,148, 10th).  Smith finished his Husker career second on Nebraska’s scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage lists.

A seventh-round draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1981, Smith was inducted into the Nebraska basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.