From freshman to senior season, Derek Wright arguably was the most improved basketball player during the 27-year Dave Loos Coaching Era.
As a freshman, Wright averaged 3.4 points per game as a part-time starter, shooting only 36 percent from the floor, while concluding his career at 11.4 ppg, missing by just 28 points of reaching the 1,000-career point total. Wright connected on just 27 total three pointers in his first two seasons, barely shooting 31 percent from deep. He made 38 three pointers alone as a junior and 53 as a senior, shooting nearly 40 percent from the perimeter on those two-year 232 attempts.
It was no coincidence the Govs’ record reflected Wright’s improvement during his career. They won 30 games (13, 2004-05; 17-14, 2005-06) over Wright’s first two seasons before capturing 45 (21-12, 2006-07; 24-11, 2007-08) in his final two campaigns, including a pair of Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles plus NIT and NCAA post-season tournament appearances.
During the latter half of his junior season and his entire senior campaign, Wright may have been the best “true” pass-first point guard of the Loos Era. He paced the Govs to identical 16-4 OVC marks during those two seasons and a pair of league regular-season titles. Among a team full of veterans, Wright was the true leader. As a senior, he tallied 165 assists (4.7 apg) and blew away the steals record with 89, including six games with five or more.
In early January 2008, the Govs improved to 4-0 in the OVC with a 90-85 overtime win at UT Martin, a contest where Wright was credited with 12 assists, one of three double-digit assist performances for the point guard that season.
Wright literally was a one-man wrecking crew at The Curb Center in Nashville also that senior season. He finished that game with 24 points—he recorded 20 of his 43 20-point-plus games as a senior—six rebounds, four assists and six steals. It may have been his finest performance as a Governor.
Or perhaps the game at Southeast Missouri in a triple overtime loss was even better. Statistically it was unquestionably his finest. The senior guard scored 43 points, including a career-high five three pointers, in the 121-116 defeat at Show Me Center. It was the first time a Gov broke the 40-point barrier in nearly 11 seasons. He also snatched seven steals in the contest.
After the disappointment of the 2007 OVC title game—the Govs losing at the buzzer, Wright and company were not about to allow a repeat in 2008. After blowing out EKU in the OVC tourney opener, the Govs eked out a 78-77 win against UT Martin in the OVC tourney semifinals, setting up a match up against Tennessee State, a team that beat the Govs, 73-69, in Nashville three weeks earlier.
But this time the Tigers were no match for the Govs. APSU built a 15-point halftime lead as it eased to an 82-64 victory in a contest that saw Wright score 13 points and dish out four assists but also take a knee to the thigh midway through the final half. Little did anyone know that extended knee not only bruised Wright’s thigh, but it tore the muscle away from the bone. For the next 1 ½ weeks, Wright literally lived in the training room in order to play in the NCAA tourney…He was able to start against Texas but after a few minutes it was determined the senior point guard’s season would come to an end earlier than he would have liked.
During that senior season, the veteran point guard earned second-team All-OVC and OVC all-tournament. Collegeinsider.com named Wright as the OVC’s Most Valuable Player. He also was recognized by the APSU Athletic Department as the Most Outstanding Male Athlete for 2007-08. Yes, Wright, who started 114 games for Loos and the Govs, had become one of Austin Peay basketball’s best point guards in history.
Wright then played 11 seasons overseas, calling such places like Belgium, Italy, Greece, Germany, Czech Republic, Romania, Switzerland and Bulgaria his temporary home before retiring after the 2018-19 season.
