Tracy Smith was frustrated.
He wasn't playing much, and he wasn't sure what it would take to get off N.C. State's bench.
So Smith scheduled a meeting with Coach Sidney Lowe in early December and put his concerns to Lowe point blank.
"I didn't think I was playing as much as I should," Smith said earlier this week. "So basically I asked him for a meeting to ask him why I wasn't playing."
Lowe answered with a laundry list of things Smith could do to get more playing time, particularly playing harder, playing better defense and rebounding better.
Smith has done all of that.
He scored a career-high 31 points after coming off the bench against Towson in late December, and he eventually moved into the starting lineup in late January.
He'll be in the starting lineup again this afternoon when State plays at Georgia Tech.
Smith played perhaps his best all-around game Wednesday night in State's 82-76 win over Wake Forest. He hit double figures in points and rebounds for the first time in his career (12 of each) and pushed his averages to 8.5 points and 3.8 rebounds.
"I think I'm playing real good right now," said Smith, a 6-8 sophomore. "I'm high energy, providing a spark, playing with a lot of confidence.
"I've been very hungry. I want to please Coach Lowe. There's nothing like keeping him happy and showing him you want to play. You've got to do the smart things that it takes to earn playing time, and that's what I've been doing."
State (13-9, 3-6 ACC) has won three of five since Lowe decided to go with a predominantly "big" lineup that has Smith, 6-9 Brandon Costner and 6-9 Ben McCauley together on the front line.
Before that, Lowe had started C.J. Williams, Trevor Ferguson and Dennis Horner at various times at small forward.
The move was initially made in the second half of a 79-68 loss at Boston College on Jan. 24. Smith didn't start that game, but Lowe chose to go with the "big" lineup to open the second half, and Smith went on to score 17 points and pull down eight rebounds in 24 minutes.
"We had a 15-point deficit at halftime, so he decided to start me, Brandon and Ben in the second half so we could get more putbacks," Smith said. "So I came in and got like four offensive rebounds and scored, and we got back in the game. So we've stayed with the ‘big' lineup since then, and everything's been going good."
Smith's biggest contribution since joining the starting lineup has been as an offensive rebounder. He had a career-high 10 offensive rebounds against Wake Forest, as State crashed the boards for 16 offensive rebounds.
For the season, Smith has more offensive rebounds (52) than defensive rebounds (31).
"He feels I'm athletic and strong enough that I should get an offensive rebound every time," Smith said, referring to Lowe. "I'm around the basket a lot in this offense, so I position myself like every shot is going to be a miss, and I take it upon myself to crash the glass."
That could be vital today, with the Wolfpack going up against an athletic Yellow Jackets front line that includes 6-8 Gani Lawal, 6-10 Alade Aminu and 6-8 Zach Peacock.
"We're showing that we're a good team with the big lineup," Smith said. "Beating Wake Forest has really boosted our confidence. I mean, we feel like we can go out and beat anybody now. That's the best we've played all year, so we've just got to feed off this and go to Georgia Tech and just keep it going."
■ John Delong can be reached at jdelong@wsjournal.com.
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