University of Arizona Athletics

#2 Position: Forward    Class/Experience: Junior/2L Height: 6-7 Weight: 238 Hometown: Chicago, Ill.    High School: Farragut Academy

General:   Was a member of the USA Mens Select Team this past summer ... One of the most physical players in the nation, Wright has been Arizonas leading rebounder the past two seasons... Was one of 22 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award last season and will contend for that prestigious honor and All-America laurels as a junior... Tenacious and physical power forward who was a an All-Pacific-10 Conference first team member last season and a Freshman All-American and the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 1998-99... One of the top power forwards in the country this year... His presence in the post with the skills of Loren Woods at center make up one of the most dominant front lines in the college game... Plays hard on every possession... Was the only member of the team to start all 34 games last season and averaged 15.5 ppg and 8.7 rpg... Has started 58 straight games entering the season... Arizona is 45-14 in games he has started... Enters the season needing 70 points to become the 29th player in school history to score 1,000 or more points in a career... Has 551 career rebounds for a career average of 8.75 rpg... Top returning rebounder in the Pac-10... Ninth in the Pac-10 in scoring and second in rebounding... An active player on both ends of the floor... Left-handed... Good scorer and rebounder who, as a high school freshman, was a teammate of Minnesota Timberwolves' forward Kevin Garnett... Came from one of the top high school programs in the country and has played against top-flight competition throughout his career.

1999-00 (Sophomore): All-Pac-10 First Team performer after leading the team in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and finishing second on the team in scoring (15.5 ppg)... Shot 56.9 percent from the floor, second in the Pac-10 and became just the second sophomore to score 500 or more points in a season, finishing the season with a team-high 526 points... Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American... USBWA District 9 and NABC District 15 first team... Basketball Times All-West Region honoree and Basketball News All-West Region second team... Led the conference with 13 double-doubles, bringing his career total to 25 in 63 games... Led the Wildcats with 20 points and seven boards in the win over Stanford in McKale Center... Scored 15 and pulled down eight boards two nights later against Cal... Scored a career-high 28 points at Oregon... Was 9-of-14 from the floor and 10-of-10 from the free throw line against the Ducks... Had a double-double at Oregon State, scoring 20 points and grabbing a season-high 15 rebounds, while playing a career-high 42 minutes in the Wildcats overtime loss... Named Pac-10 player of the week after averaging 17.5 ppg and 11.5 rpg in wins over Brigham Young and Texas... Matched a then-career-high 14 rebounds in a win over Arizona State to go with 16 points... In Arizonas two wins over USC and UCLA in Tucson, he averaged 21.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg, shot 17-of-26 (65.4%) from the field and was 8-of-8 from the line... Scored 20 and had 14 boards in the win over USC... Was 8-of-11 shooting in the game, and six of his rebounds were off the offensive glass... Had 22 points and six boards in the home win against the Bruins... In the second game of the season, Wright notched a then-career-high 24 points to go with 13 rebounds against New Mexico State in the Preseason NIT Second Round... Scored game highs in the wins over Oregon and Oregon State in Tucson, scoring 20 and 22, respectively against the teams... Poured in 22 points and had 11 boards in the Preseason NIT semifinal against Notre Dame... 16 points and 13 rebounds at Texas... 14 and 10 against Connecticut.

1998-99 (Freshman): Pac-10 Freshman of the Year after finishing fifth in the conference in rebounding, 15th in scoring and third in field goal percentage... Arizonas third Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, joining Sean Elliott (1985-86) and Mike Bibby (1996-97)... Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 team... A Freshman All-America selection by The Sporting News, Basketball News and College Hoops Insider... His rebounding average of 8.8 rpg was fourth in the Pac-10 and the best ever for a Pac-10 freshman... His scoring average of 13.9 ppg was No. 15  in the conference... Led all Pac-10 freshmen in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage (55.6%), free throw percentage (73.6%) and minutes played (27.3 mpg)... In a conference games only, he had a field goal percentage is 58.4%... Averaged 8.8 rpg in Pac-10 play, the fourth-best average for league games... Led or tied for the team-high in rebounding a team-high 16 times... In three of the five games in which he didnt score in double figures, he had nine points... The other two, at Stanford and at home against Washington State, he was plagued by foul trouble and only played a total of 18 minutes in those two outings... Career-high 22-point night against Arizona State in Tucson... Also grabbed nine rebounds and was 8-of-10 from the floor... Matched his point output with 22 against USC in Tucson... Also led the team with 13 rebounds that night... In the NCAA Tournament against Oklahoma, scored 16 points to go with 12 boards... Teams high scorer twice ASU in Tucson and at Brigham Young (21 points)... 13 games in which he had a field goal percentage of 60% or better.. His best performance was at New Mexico, when he scored 15 points and pulled down a career-best 17 rebounds... He had 12 boards in the first half, a total that was three short of a UA record for rebounds in a half... At Washington State, he had five rebounds in the first 2:42 of the game... Finished with a game-high 15 boards on the day... Had nine points and just missed yet another double-double... An excellent free throw shooter, he hit all 10 of his attempts in the win at Oregon... Was 9-of-10 from the line at BYU and 8-of-9 at UCLA... In Arizonas two exhibitions, he went 16-of-16 from the free throw line.

High School: An All-State performer in Illinois as a senior and finished as the No. 15 player in the country in Bob Gibbons' All Star Sports rating service... Averaged 29.5 ppg and 16 rpg as a senior and was named to the Associated Press, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune's All-State teams...  Was an honorable mention high school All-America selection by USA Today... Led Farragut Academy to a 21-7 record as a senior... Also named to the Illinois State High School Association's All-State team... Played in the Kentucky Derby Classic after his senior season... Chicago Tribune High School Player of the Month for February... Played for head coach William Nelson at Farragut Academy.

Personal: Michael Wright... Born 1-7-80 in Chicago, Ill... Son of Rose Wright... Mother is a nurse... Majoring in family studies at the UA... A member of the 1998 USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Qualifying Gold Medal Team... Was the team's top scorer, averaging 15 ppg to go with the squad's second-best rebounding mark (5.0 rpg)... Shot 57% from the floor (32-of-57) and had a team-best 11 blocks as the team went 6-0 to earn the USA a spot in the 1999 FIBA junior World Championship... Scored 27 points in the team's 95-73 win over Brazil in the semifinal contest and had a team-high 10 boards in the gold medal game against Argentina... In addition to playing with the USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Qualifying Gold Medal team in 1998, he also played internationally with a team in Germany during his high school days... Attended three consecutive Nike camps.
 

Wright's Career Statistics

Postseason Statistics