Wright Earns GSC Player of the Week Honors for Second Straight Week
January 9, 2008

MONTICELLO, Arkansas – For the second straight week, Arkansas-Monticello’s junior forward Raymond Wright has been named the Gulf South Conference West Division Player of the Week.
 
Wright (New York, N.Y.) collected two more double-doubles over the past week, and fell shy of getting his third by just one rebound in the 62-65 loss at West Alabama on Jan. 3.
 
Wright and the rest of the Weevils worked out their problems and posted two big wins at home over Philander Smith (81-59) on Jan. 5 and Central Baptist (82-62) on Jan 8.
 
In the Philander Smith game, Wright put up career numbers. His 26 points and 18 rebounds were not only this season’s best single-game performance, but his career-best as well.
 
Three days later, Wright posted similar numbers in the Central Baptist win with 27 points and 13 rebounds.
 
With those numbers, Wright has increased his averages this season to a double-double per game. He is currently averaging 19.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per contest in only eight games played this season. His season double-double total has risen to five.
 
The following is a portion of the release sent from the GSC:
Wright collects his second consecutive award after averaging a double-double in UAM's 2-1 week. He averaged 21.7 points and grabbed 13.3 rebounds in 29.0 minutes of action, while shooting 57.9 percent from the floor.

“It’s always an honor when you have the player of the week,” said head coach Mike Newell. “Raymond is certainly deserving of the award…If he continues to improve his work ethic and learns that hard work is synonymous with success, then he and the rest of our guys certainly have a chance to continue towards our goal of being successful… Our team is really playing well and creating depth despite some injury problems. Raymond has certainly contributed to that.”

Wright and the rest of the Weevils will start their quest for a conference crown this Saturday, as they travel to Searcy to take on Harding in the Rhodes Field House. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. immediately following the women’s contest. The game can be heard live on the radio at KHBM-FM 93.7, which will be streamed live over the Internet. The game can be heard world-wide by clicking on the appropriate link on the men’s basketball home page after logging on to www.uamsports.com.