STARKVILLE — Eli Wright was ready for college basketball.
After beginning his high school career at Apollo High School in Owensboro, Kentucky, Wright transferred to 22 Feet Academy in Greenville, South Carolina, for his senior season. The move allowed Wright to play a national schedule, which including games against perennial powers like Oak Hill Academy, of Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.
When Wright signed with the Mississippi State men’s basketball team, former 22 Feet Academy coach Ryan Schmidt was happy. He knew Wright’s background gave him a chance to make an impact as a freshman at MSU after the graduation suffered significant losses to graduation and transfer.
“From day one, the first thing that stood out with him was his work ethic,” Schmidt said. “He was a gym rat and was always finding ways to improve his game. He was a sponge and wanted to work on little things by himself. He would stay after practice and was dedicated to the weight room. He had a little routine he would do every day after practice with ballhandling and shooting.”
Wright hopes that work ethic will continue to help him at MSU (4-2), which will play host to Oregon State (3-4) at 8 tonight (ESPNU) at Humphrey Coliseum.
Wright drew his first start Monday night in a 65-59 victory against Northwestern State at the Hump. The 6-foot-4, 203-pound guard scored a career-high 11 points and had seven rebounds in 32 minutes.
The production shouldn’t be surprising because As a senior, Wright averaged 23.6 points per game as a senior at 22 Feet Academy. He averaged 20.6 points and 7.5 rebounds as a junior at Apollo.
Wright faced MSU teammate and guard Mario Kegler when 22 Feet Academy and Oak Hill Academy met Nov. 14, 2015. Wright scored 20 points in a 70-67 victory at the Phenom National Showcase Breakout.
Schmidt said the level of competition Wright faced in his senior year helped to prepare him for the transition to Division I basketball.
“We played a tough schedule, a national schedule and pretty much every night he was going up against another Division I guard,” Schmidt said. “At a normal high school, kids may have two, three maybe four games throughout the season where they’re playing someone of that caliber. With us, it was on a nightly basis.”
Wright said he learned he would start moments before the game against Northwestern State due to freshman guard Lamar Peters’ suspension. He said MSU coach Ben Howland told him to focus on offensive rebounds. He responded by getting three.
Schmidt said he conducted offensive and defensive rebound drills in practice at 22 Feet Academy. Although Schmidt couldn’t recall how many rebounds Wright averaged as a senior, he said Wright never backed away from the challenge of going against post players for rebounds.
“He did a good job of rebounding out of area,” Schmidt said. “He didn’t really leak out like a lot of kids like to do. He’d throw his body in there and get into the mix. He was never one to shy away from being physical.”
Wright is averaging 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 rebounds in six games. In five previous games, Wright had two rebounds, one against UTEP and one against Lehigh. Howland feels like Wright can build off his latest performance.
“I think this is a big confidence boost for him,” Howland said. “I think this is going to lead to good things moving forward.”
Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy was impressed with Wright and said he was playing to get more minutes.
MSU senior point guard I.J. Ready, who had a team-high 14 points against Northwestern State, also was impressed with Wright. With MSU’s leading scorer, Quinndary Weatherspoon out for the season with a wrist injury, Ready will need some help on offense.
“We expect that out of Eli,” Ready said. “He comes and works hard every day. He puts in work all the time. He’s always in the gym. I think the biggest thing for him is confidence. I think he came out and played more aggressive in the paint and more confidence than he has in our other games. He did a great job rebounding and looking for his shot.”
Wright will continue to experience ups and downs as a freshman, but Schmidt believes he will be able to handle them.
“I think the competition overall just kind of helped the transition for him to where he was more prepared and ready to contribute early on,” Schmidt said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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