A former college and high school basketball star at two national powerhouses is now facing a DUI charge in Louisville.
Russ Smith, a 34-year-old guard playing in Italy’s second division, was picked up in the early hours of Sunday morning. He has since been booked on charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, reckless driving and one count for an expired registration tag, according to online records.
As reported by the Louisville Courier Journal, police claim to have observed Smith making an illegal U-turn across several lanes in the city’s Original Highlands neighborhood – a historic area with century-old Victorian homes and shotgun houses.
An officer reported a ‘strong odor of alcoholic beverages’ emanating from Smith, who admitted to consuming ‘two bourbon pours neat’ before getting behind the wheel.
The former Louisville Cardinals star and NCAA champion then failed a field sobriety test before his blood-alcohol level of 0.073 was recorded, according to the arrest citation.
That is technically below Kentucky’s 0.08 blood-alcohol limit, but state law permits charges for drivers with any level above 0.04 if there is ‘other competent evidence’ to consider, according to the Courier Journal.
Ex-Louisville guard Russ Smith, 34, was picked up in the early hours of Sunday morning
Russ Smith is seen with then-Louisville coach Rick Pitino after a 2014 win over Connecticut
Smith has since been released on bond and will be due for an arraignment hearing on Wednesday at 9am.
The New York native is best known to hoops fanatics as the scrappy 6-foot Louisville guard who, along with Peyton Siva, led coach Rick Pitino’s Cardinals to a national championship in 2013 – a title the school has since vacated.
In 2015, it was revealed that Louisville recruits were provided strippers and escorts between 2010 and 2014. One woman later claimed she was paid $100 to have sex with Smith, then a top recruit from Queens, New York’s Archbishop Molloy.
Smith would later deny that claim to the Courier Journal in 2016. He was never charged for any wrongdoing in the NCAA case against Louisville, which vacated the 2013 title and other achievements as part of its punishment.
He would go on to be taken by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft but never really found a home in the league.
After NBA and G League stints in Memphis, Fort Wayne, Delaware and Iowa, Smith went on to play in China, Israel and Italy. He’s currently in his second go with Italian second-division club Pallacanestro Nardò.
