The UL basketball team picked up last weekend from forward Tirus Smith, a UTEP bouceback.

The 6-foot-9 Smith averaged 8.7 points and 5.4 rebounds this past season for Jones College in Mississippi.

In the 2017-18 season, he averaged 4.4 points, 3.1 boards and 0.5 over 24 games including seven starts for UTEP — including a season-high 17 point vs. Howard — while also missing six games with a knee injury. But Miners coach Tim Floyd retired early in Smith’s freshman season, and the one-time Ole Miss commit transferred afterward.