Joseph Eugene Wright (born April 1, 1963) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. Wright holds the single season scoring record in the Úrvalsdeild karla when he averaged 46.6 points per game during the 1992–1993 season. In 1992 he set the single game scoring record in the

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

when he scored 79 points.

College career

Wright played college basketball for Kansas State University. On January 23, 1985, he made 11 of 11 field goals against

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, setting a

Big 8 Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

record. Wright was named Big 8 Player of the Week in both 1985 and 1986.

Club career

Wright started his professional career in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in 1988. He played in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

before signing with

Turun NMKY Turun NMKY (YMCA Turku) is a Finnish professional basketball club, based in Turku. The club plays in men's I-B-division. History Turun NMKY was founded in 1920. The team has played in a total of 32 through the top league level championships. NMKY h ...

in Finland in 1991.

Finland

Wright played

for one and a half season. In 1991–1992 he led the

in scoring, averaging a league leading 44.1 points per game and finishing second in three point percent with 47,1% On February 12, 1992, Wright set the Korisliiga single game scoring record when he scored 79 points against

Pantterit Pantterit (English: ''Panthers'') is a basketball club from Helsinki, Finland. The club was formed in 1938 and it has won the men's Finnish championship title for 14 times making it the most successful team in Finnish basketball history. Pantter ...

Iceland

Wright joined Úrvalsdeild club Breiðablik in January 1993. In his first game, he scored 55 points in a 108-110 loss against

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarð ...

and followed it up by scoring 53 points against

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar ( en, Hawks F.C.) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Football, Handball, Basketball, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The club was founded on 12 April 1931, when 13 young boys ...

in his next game. On 29 January, Wright led Breiðablik to its second victory of the season by scoring 67 points against

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. T ...

, the second highest single game scoring in the Úrvalsdeild karla history. In his first five games, he averaged 52.8 points per game. In February, he was selected for the Icelandic All-Star game. For the season he averaged a league leading 44.1 points per game but was unable to help Breiðablik stave of relegation. In September 1994, Wright Joined

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town on the Southern Peninsula of Iceland not far from the tuya Þorbjörn. It is one of the few cities with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work in the fishing industry. The Blue Lagoon, Grindavík ...

and played with them two games against M7 Basket in the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

. In the two games he scored 33 and 27 points.

College career

Club career

Finland

Iceland

References

External links