Valparaiso, Wright playing in Springfield on New Year’s Day

Oct. 18—Earlier this month, schedules were released for all of Division I college basketball, and the Valparaiso University Beacons of the Missouri Valley Conference will be playing Missouri State on New Year’s Day.

A former standout at Joplin High School and then a part of the Link Academy program in Branson, All Wright will be in the Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield that night in a Valparaiso uniform.

“It’s a really big opportunity for me and my family, playing close to home. Especially at the Division I level. It’s going to be a great experience to come back close to home and be able to kind of show off in front of my hometown fans,” Wright said.

Valparaiso has a busy stretch around the holidays as it plays at Western Michigan on Friday, Dec. 20, and then back home on Sunday, Dec. 22. There’s a week off before the team goes to Bradley University on Dec. 29 and then travels to Missouri to play the Bears on Wednesday, Jan. 1.

The game against Missouri State is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.

The team’s regular season tips off Nov. 4 with a game at Liberty University in the Total Athlete Tip-Off in Xenia, Ohio, at the John Wooden Family Fieldhouse.

Wright can first be seen on a Division I court when the Beacons host Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College for an exhibition contest in less than two weeks in Valparaiso, Indiana. There is no livestream of that game, but it can be found on the radio.

Wright’s junior season with the Eagles saw him pour in 26 points per game. At Link Year prep, he averaged 15 ppg and chipped in seven assists a contest — showing his ability to find the open man and share the ball as well.

“Practices here have been well. We’ve been meshing well,” Wright said. “I feel like I really found my rhythm over the summer since I had those two months to find a groove and just adjust to the physicality of the game and the speed of the game.”

At Valpo, he’s playing under head coach Roger Powell Jr. Wright noted that Powell has already taught him a lot and that the focus early in his freshman year is staying grounded in the details of the game.

Powell will be in his second year as head coach after being an assistant at Gonzaga under Mark Few from 2019-2023. Powell spent a season in the NBA in the Utah Jazz organization in 2006 as a player.

“I’ve learned a lot from coach Powell. The biggest thing is just picking up on the little things. The little details are what’s going to win you games,” Wright said. “Sliding in the gap, shadowing in transition, there are a lot of details that are in the game that a lot of people don’t see that are really important.”

Wright didn’t speak on potential playing time for him as a true freshman or what that may look like. Valpo returns six players — four with significant playing time — from last year’s roster and has 11 newcomers, including Wright. The Beacons graduated three seniors.

Darius DeAveiro returns after averaging 7.9 ppg and 5.3 apg as a junior at the guard position. Isaiah Stafford, a returning senior, averaged 17 ppg last year also as a guard.

Cooper Schwieger, a 6-foot-10 sophomore forward, was named Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year last year averaging 13 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He shot 50% from the floor and 36% on 3-pointers. Kasper Sepp is another returner who saw action as a freshman. His role was mostly off the bench as he only started 15 of 28 games he played and averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds from the forward position.

Wright has an opportunity to prove himself as one of the newcomers to earn a starting role among those three key assets from the 2023-24 season that saw the Beacons go 7-25 and finish at the bottom of the MVC standings.

“For me, it’s just going to be consistency. I’ve shown flashes of my scoring ability. … Being able to get guys open and really just expand as a point guard overall. Consistency is going to be a big thing for me this year, especially if we really want to win some games down the stretch and make it to March (Madness),” Wright said.