Can Rob Wright III continue his recent surge to help shorthanded BYU finish strong?

While Wright’s game-winner at the Garden is now an iconic BYU moment and arguably the high point of the season thus far, it was especially meaningful for the Delaware native considering so many of his family members were in attendance to witness the shot live.

“It was super crazy. My whole family was there because it was close to home, (New York) is probably two hours from my house,” Wright said. “So just to have an experience like that and have an opportunity like that, it’s amazing.”

Advertisement

But before he was entering BYU program lore with his heroics, Wright was torching the Cougars as an opponent.

As a freshman at Baylor a year ago, Wright scored a then career-high 22 points with six assists and four rebounds in his first appearance at the Marriott Center, helping the Bears push BYU to overtime before eventually falling to his future squad.

“Like most teams in our league, we couldn’t keep him out of the paint, we couldn’t keep him away from the rim and off the foul line as well,” Cougars coach Kevin Young said of Wright’s electric outing against BYU.

“He’s been able to grow from his experience in our league last year. We talked about how much more efficient he’s playing this year, I think having that year under his belt certainly, you know, points to just how much he’s growing and how mature his game is becoming.”

Advertisement

After earning both All-Big 12 Honorable Mention and All-Freshman status at Baylor, Wright entered the transfer portal last spring and found a fit at BYU, saying he’s glad to have chosen the Cougars.

“I was kind of looking for something new, and then when I got the offer and heard about everything, I just thought that (BYU) would be a nice place for me just to grow both on and off the court,” Wright said.

“… It’s been great. Obviously, we’ve had some adversity this season with a lot of injuries. But I mean, it’s been a good experience for me, the fans have been great. Honestly, I’m enjoying it.”

BYU’s season is clearly at a crossroads, having lost six of its past nine games and now being forced to “reinvent” itself following Richie Saunders’ torn ACL.

Advertisement

But despite the past month of adversity, Young trusts that his point guard can help right the ship before tournament time.

“I had a conversation with (Wright) the other day when Richie went down just talking about how much we need from him as a leader across the board with not just his voice, but his example, you know, and helping to empower the other guys that we need to step up,” Young said. “I sleep great at night knowing that the ball is in his hands.”

Wright, meanwhile, finds excitement in the daunting stretch ahead, with the Cougars hosting No. 6 Iowa State on Saturday as the first of four Quad 1 chances out of five remaining regular-season games.

“(It’s exciting) still having a huge opportunity in front of us,” Wright said. “I mean, the season is not close to being over. We’ve still got five or six games, and then we’ve got the Big 12 tournament. We could build some momentum going into March.”