The viral assist from UR Men’s Basketball’s Sam Borst-Smith is now a finalist for State Farm’s inaugural “Assist of the Year” contest.

The digital contest features 16 of the top assist plays in college basketball from the current 2015-2016 season. The winner from each bracketed round will face off against the other winning assists to compete for the coveted title, “Assist of the Year.”

Fans can vote for Borst-Smith or others on State Farm’s website, which displays all of the nominees and videos of their assists. Voting opened on Feb. 24 and will run until Monday, Feb. 29, at 11:59 a.m. CT.

As of Friday, the UR junior had received 50.1 percent of the votes in the third round. His competitors consist solely of Division I assists from programs such as Seton Hall University, Big East juggernaut Butler, and UNC Charlotte.

The finals for the competition will take place March 4 through 9, and the player with the most votes will be welcomed to attend the State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships, which will be held in the chosen Final Four city—Houston, TX.

The winning assist play will be shown during the event and air on ESPN during Final Four weekend on March 31 at 9 p.m. ET.

Tagged: Basketball


Basketball star a finalist for “Assist of the Year”

One quiet season for U.S. impacts does not mean climate scientists were wrong. It means that we got lucky. Scientists predicted favorable conditions for intense hurricanes, and we got three Category 5 hurricanes. Read More

Basketball star a finalist for “Assist of the Year”

We aren’t attendees at a stadium game or passengers killing time before a flight. We are students who need to eat, with no other options. Read More

Basketball star a finalist for “Assist of the Year”

Our regulations for privatizing articles align with our policies on source anonymization: If it’s deemed that publication may endanger the author, whether to retaliation, risk of verbal or physical threat, or fear of national level surveillance (such as the potential revocation of a VISA), the article will be removed.  Read More