Zach Smith finishes second in the college Slam Dunk Contest

Back in 2004, Andre Emmett brought all of San Antonio down after dunking over a group of standing because as Emmett would put it, “Dre love the kids.” Now 14 years later, Zach Smith is back in San Antonio with the opportunity to continue the Red Raider legacy and did not disappoint.

Zach started the contest out with a dunk that went over the judge’s heads. Zach brings the ball from the highest point, then does a full windmill. The difficulty in this dunk alone is enough to where it should have been a 10, but two judges gave him a nine, putting him in jeopardy of not making it to the next round.

Zach barely made it into the semifinals and would be the first dunker. After failing four times to put down an incredible dunk, Smith settled for a dunk that was still great. Smith once again did a windmill, but this time on an alley-oop off the backboard. Had he attempted this dunk the first time, he likely would have gotten a higher score but an impressive dunk nonetheless.

Needing an amazing dunk to move onto the next round, Smith went out and ave us an amazing dunk. Off an alley-oop from the side of the backboard, Smith grabbed the ball one-handed and cocked it all the way back before hammering it down. The dunk alone brought me out of my seat.

After that dunk, Smith needed some assistance getting into the finals over Purchase College’s Max Pearce who went the easy route throwing down decent dunks that weren’t as difficult but were made on the first attempt. After fans got the chance to input their votes, Zach made the finals off the strength of Red Raider nation.

In the finals, Smith once again struggled to throw down a dunk. However his perserverance paid off as he threw down the crazy dunk on the fourth attempt. Zach took the pass from the side of the backboard and threw it between his legs. Everyone behind him and in the stadium knew how great that dunk was. Everyone except George Gervin. Gervin was the only judge to give him a nine, which would be the main difference as all four judges gave Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Joe Kilgore a 10.

Smith might have come in second in this contest but he made all Red Raiders watching proud and though he didn’t win like Darvin Ham or Andre Emmett, this performance should still cement him as one of the greatest Texas Tech dunkers ever.