K-State guard Mark Smith gets revenge on Longhorns with victory celebration at Texas
Mark Smith celebrated Kansas State’s 66-65 victory over No. 23 Texas as if he grew up hating the Longhorns.
As soon as the final buzzer sounded Tuesday night at the Erwin Center in Austin, he stomped toward the student section and began waving goodbye to the crowd. He smiled and waved his right hand at one group of fans. Then he smiled some more and waved his left hand at another group of fans.
This went on for about 15 seconds until he ended his victory lap with an exclamation mark. Smith raised both his arms high into the air, made a pair of the “Hook Em Horns” hand signals and then pointed them down toward the floor like a die hard Oklahoma fan.
Smith, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who was born and raised in Illinois, was fired up after he scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Wildcats to an unlikely road victory. And he didn’t care who knew it, especially after the way he watched Texas players celebrate their 70-57 victory at Bramlage Coliseum earlier this month.
You could say Smith (cue Michael Jordan here) took that personally.
“It was fun,” Smith said afterward. “Obviously the passion of playing the game, I probably should have had just a little more class. After the first time we played them at K-State I remembered they were throwing up the EMAW sign and stomping on the Powercat, things like that, and yelling at our fans. That just didn’t sit well with me.”
K-State led that game at halftime, but the Wildcats ran out of gas late with a roster that was severely depleted by COVID issues. They were missing starting point guard Markquis Nowell and all three of their centers that day. Head coach Bruce Weber also watched from home.
“I was really mad, because we didn’t have our full team and some of our key guys,” Smith said. “I just really remembered that. Obviously, we won this game and it was a big one for us. They’re a really good team and I’m just glad we got the win. That stuff at the end doesn’t really matter.”
Winning the rematch was clearly a priority for Smith. He played like he had something to prove before he gave the road crowd a double “Horns Down.”
This was his first and only trip to the Erwin Center after joining K-State this season as a graduate transfer.
Smith has been one of the Wildcats’ best players all year after putting up mediocre numbers at Missouri over the past few seasons and is now nearly averaging a double-double. But he had a standout performance against Texas. He attacked the basket and showed aggression every time the Wildcats possessed the ball. He finished with 22 points on 14 shots. He was 7 of 9 around the basket and 2 of 5 from the outside.
The Longhorns had no answer for him.
This wasn’t his career high. That happened when he erupted for 25 points and 16 rebounds earlier this season against Oklahoma. But this effort was more meaningful because it was good enough to help his team win.
He also got some revenge.
This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 5:00 AM.