Feb. 06--After his greatest performance, Mike Smith's team rained on the parade.
The senior had just scored 38 points in one of Fenwick's most significant regular-season victories ever -- a standing-room-only 71-68 win at home against Simeon on Jan. 18. Still, he heard yelling upon entering the locker room.
Head coach Rick Malnati, an admittedly intense teacher, was riding the players about a few late turnovers that could've cost the Friars the game. Smith, who had arrived late because of a few postgame TV interviews, was wide-eyed.
"I heard him yelling before I even get to the locker room," Smith said. "I saw him throw his clipboard down. I'm shocked. I'm looking at the team like, 'Wait, we just won. We just beat Simeon.'"
Malnati stopped suddenly, then grinned. The Friars mobbed their star.
The Simeon triumph headlined Smith's sterling month, but his consistent excellence during No. 2 Fenwick's ascension made him the Tribune/WGN-9 Athlete of the Month for January.
The 5-foot-9 point guard averaged 22 points, 5 assists and 3 steals last month. He shot 46 percent from the 3-point line, 80 percent on free-throws and also scored a 30 on his ACT.
'Upper-limiting'
On Jan. 9, the Friars fell at home to Benet, 44-41, after leading by 12 points in the fourth quarter. Smith scored 13 points but was unable to slam the door, chalking it up as "just one of those games."
Since then, Fenwick (20-2, 10-0 Catholic North) has won seven straight games -- including three over teams currently ranked in the top 12 -- by an average margin of 18.4 points. Five days after Simeon, Smith scored 34 points, including 24 in the second half, in a 67-64 victory over then-No. 11 Riverside-Brookfield.
"His confidence has just risen," Malnati said. "He's upper-limiting a little bit. I said something to the captains the other day, how they have to keep promoting the fact that he is just great right now. Sometimes, you wonder can he keep doing it. It's tough to do that night-in and night-out when the other team is keying on you, but his teammates know where he's at right now."
According to Malnati, the biggest reason for Smith's new level of play is the patience he has developed with his improved perimeter game. In the past, Smith abandoned his outside shot after a few early misses and relied exclusively on putting his head down and getting to the rim -- much to his coach's chagrin.
"When you're younger and you shoot, you want everything to go in. And when it doesn't, you stop," Smith said. "You don't want to get yelled at, you don't want to get booed. But when you're older, you realize you're not gonna hit every shot. You'll miss, and you learn from every miss."
Smith's father, Richard, says opposing coaches have come up to him and complimented Mike, the youngest of five siblings, on the poise with which he conducts himself and the well-rounded game he's developed. Malnati's experience as an assistant coach at Loyola University has led him to install some college sets.
"Malnati helped (Mike Smith) fully realize that the point guard needs to score, but also needs to make the team better," Richard Smith said. "And that's all come together. Michael is confident that his coach is confident in him, and his coach is confident that Michael will do the right thing. He never comes out of the game. It's a beautiful thing to watch."
Malnati's confidence in Smith started early. In the second practice of Malnati's tenure, he pulled his sophomore point guard aside and asked him to lead. Smith looked around. He saw three future Division I players -- Scott Lindsey (Northwestern), Danny Dwyer (Penn) and Tom Planek (Providence) -- who also happened to be seniors.
"You talking to me?" Smith remembers thinking. "I'm a sophomore. How am I supposed to lead them?
"He was like, 'Yeah, I know, it's tough, but I have your back. I'm going to take some of the pressure off you, because it's a lot to handle. But you can do it.'
"I feel like since that point on, he's instilled that belief in me."
Gift-giver
Last season, their first in Class 4A, the Friars lost a regional final to Curie. The previous two years in 3A, Fenwick was eliminated by Orr, in a 2014 sectional final and a 2013 sectional semifinal.
The Friars are back in 3A this year with a lofty goal. They want to take the program downstate for the first time since Corey Maggette's senior season in 1998. If they succeed, it will be in large part because of Smith's play, as well as the team's experience, talent and a bit of swagger.
To wit: Shortly before practice ended the morning of Saturday, Jan. 30, Smith told Malnati he had to grab something from his car. Malnati scoffed -- "Wait, what? Can't we just finish practice?" -- but Smith insisted.
Upon returning, Smith was beaming. He had presents for the team. He and his father has made shirts in the "Straight Outta Compton" font that read "Straight Outta Fenwick." The joke was obvious -- "OK, we can put a little slang in this buttoned-up, beautiful, Catholic, Dominican school," Richard Smith said, laughing -- and everybody got one. A senior point guard, dishing at the perfect time.
"The fact that he was a giver and not a taker in that situation, how he was just so excited to give, it's emblematic of how he plays," Malnati said. "It's just such a sense of growing up."
rmayor@tribpub.com
'Instant Replay'
Mike Smith will be featured during a segment on WGN-9's "Instant Replay" Sunday at 9:40 p.m. If you miss it, watch the video at prepsplus.com.
2015-16 athletes of the month
September: Michael Johnson, Joliet Catholic football
October: Stephanie Dolehide, Hinsdale Central tennis
November: Quayvon Skanes, Phillips football
December: Devin Gage, Curie basketball
