UVA Women's Basketball Lands LSU Transfer Forward Sa'Myah Smith

A 6'2" forward from Texarkana, Texas, Smith was a highly-touted recruit coming out of DeSoto High School, where she won back-to-back state championships in her junior and senior seasons. As a freshman at LSU, Smith played all 36 games, averaging 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 14.7 minutes per game to help the Tigers win their first-ever national title, earning All-SEC Freshman Team honors along the way. Smith dropped a double-double in her first collegiate game and played a total of 56 minutes in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman, including a six-point, five-rebound, two-block, one-steal performance in LSU's Elite Eight victory over Miami.

As the Tigers looked to defend their title the following season, Smith looked to have a huge role in her sophomore campaign, starting six of the first seven games and beginning the year with a 16-point game followed by two 21-point games. Unfortunately, Smith then tore her ACL five minutes into the first quarter of the seventh game of the season and missed the remainder of the year. She took a medical redshirt to save the year of eligibility.

After a long rehab process, Smith returned to the court for the Tigers this past season and played in all but one of the games with 28 starts. Smith averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game and shot 56.5% from the floor. She scored in double figures eight times over the course of the season, including a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double in LSU's win over Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, which she then followed up with a 21-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead the Tigers past NC State in the Sweet 16. LSU's tournament run came to an end with a loss to No. 1 seed UCLA in the Elite Eight.

Watch some highlights of Sa'Myah Smith in the video below:

Smith entered the transfer portal on April 3rd and will now transfer to Virginia, where she will have two years of eligibility remaining. This is a significant addition for Coach Mox and the Cavaliers, who are getting an experienced and talented front court player and an elite defender. The front court has undoubtedly been the focus of Coach Mox and her staff this offseason following the losses of Latasha Lattimore and Edessa Noyan to the transfer portal.

Smith is the third transfer addition of the offseason for the Virginia women's basketball program, joining UCF forward Adeang Ring and NC State forward Caitlin Weimar.

We're keeping track of all of Virginia's transfer portal activity this offseason, including Cavaliers entering the portal and UVA's pursuit of transfer targets. See our transfer portal tracker here: Virginia Women's Basketball Transfer Portal: Latest News and Updates