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UNLV transfer receives waiver to play immediately at UT-Martin

Deville Smith, Skylar Spencer

UNLV’s Deville Smith shoots over San Diego State’s Skylar Spencer during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, in Las Vegas. San Diego State defeated UNLV 73-64. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

AP

Deville Smith has received a waiver and will be eligible to play for Tennessee-Martin immediately this season, a source confirmed to NBCSports.

“I’m happy for Deville,” head coach Heath Schroyer said in a statement released by the program. “He has had to overcome a lot of adversity in his life and it’s always nice to see something good happen to a good kid.”

Smith spent last season playing for UNLV, where he averaged 9.7 points and started 18 games at the point as a junior. UT-Martin will be his fourth school in four years. As a freshman, he played on the same Mississippi State team as Rodney Hood, Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie before transferring to a junior college for the 2012-2013 season.

Smith will join a back court that adds JuCo all-american Alex Anderson and returns senior Marshun Newell and junior Dee Oldham. The Skyhawks went just 8-23 last season before undergoing a coaching change, bringing in the former UNLV associate head coach Schroyer.

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