Stevens visits former player while he battles cancer

Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog.

At least those are the words from Samantha Smith, wife to former Butler basketball player Andrew Smith. Smith recently returned home from Lithuania, where he was playing professionally, after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Smith has begun undergoing treatment for the disease in his hometown of Zionsville, Ind. And over the past few days, an old friend stopped by.

Per Samantha Smith's twitter account:

It appears Stevens made time amid his hectic NBA schedule to fly back to Zionsville to visit the Smith family. Stevens' Celtics, 19-34 on the year and in fourth place in the Atlantic Division, won Monday night in Milwaukee and host the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night in Boston.

And it's not the first time Stevens has gone out of his way for a former player. It was just this past summer when Stevens, three days after accepting the Celtics head coaching position, turned up in Connersville, Ind. to honor a promise he'd made to Matt Howard's father.

Smith had began playing for the Eurocup team, the Neptunas, in September. Since returning to Indianapolis, Smith has started treatment to combat the cancer. His return to the Neptunas -- or professional basketball at all, for that matter -- remains uncertain until the treatment is complete.

According to the National Cancer Institute, 69,740 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma were diagnosed in 2013. Neither Smith nor his family intend to comment on the matter until "there is news to report," according to Sam Porter, Smith's agent.

MORE: SamanthaSmith's blog on the couple finding out Andrew had cancer

MORE: Catching up with former Butler great Matt Howard

As a senior last season, Smith averaged 11.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for a team that reached the third round of the NCAA tournament. Smith graduated last spring and married his longtime girlfriend, formerly Samantha Stage, over the summer.

He played in 134 career games in his four years at Butler, starting 103. He played in national title games with the Bulldogs in 2010 and '11 and stands 25th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,147 points. He is also 12th on the school's all-time rebounds list with 648.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.