Reyne Smith hails from Tasmania, a small island state of Australia, and came through the Australian Institute of Sport, which produced NBA players like Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova. Smith originally grew up playing Australian football, but decided to focus on basketball in the eighth grade.

Smith moved away from home to join the AIS, but was sent back due to COVID-19. The coaches for AIS reached out to several college coaches, but no one was able to see Smith in person due to the pandemic.

“My recruiting process wasn’t big-time. Everything was over Zoom,” Smith said. “I knew I wanted to play college over here, and there weren’t many options.”

Smith received offers from Winthrop and Cal Baptist, but there wasn’t much interest. He committed to Pat Kelsey and Winthrop in August of 2020, and decided to stick with Kelsey after he took the job at Charleston in March of 2021.

Smith wasted little time making an impact, making a freshman school-record 90 threes. He’s averaging 11.6 points in his career thus far and has made a ridiculous 119-of-131 shots from the charity stripe.

“It almost doesn’t feel real,” Smith said. “As a kid, you’re looking at the Top 25 and the scores. It’s surreal when you look at the ESPN app and see us there listed.

“But the main focus for me is the NCAA Tournament,” he added. “That’s the main reason I came here to play college.”