STATESBORO – Anybody who saw Ike Smith play as a sophomore could tell he was hurting last season. He did his best to hide it and tried his hardest to grind through it, but his body just was not right.
Fans only got the occasional peek at the Ike of 2016-17, the one who led the Sun Belt in scoring with 19.6 points a game and shot 50 percent from the floor and 40 percent from 3-point range. That Ike played against Wake Forest, in the first home game against CSU Bakersfield and Missouri State down in Estero, Fla.