Wright flourishing in SLCC's system

TAYLORSVILLE — When D.J. Wright committed to play for LSU, he never envisioned taking a detour to Salt Lake Community College.

Failing to qualify academically changed all of that. Instead of a Tigers uniform, Wright found himself in a Bruins uniform

Now he can't envision starting out anywhere else.

"I like the area," Wright said. "It's in the city. The coaches are great and the people are really friendly here in Utah."

SLCC may not have been the original college basketball destination for the Canadian forward. Still, playing under coach Norm Parrish has helped him raise his game to a whole new level.

"There's a lot of stuff I wasn't ready for and I didn't know," Wright said. "It just hit me as soon as I got here."

Basketball was a different animal for Wright while a prep star in Toronto. His high school team played at a slower pace, so an up-tempo Bruin offense felt completely foreign at first.

Wright has since embraced the SLCC brand of basketball with a flourish. Through 14 games, he averages a team best 17.3 points and 9.4 rebounds. He's also the top shot blocker with 1.6 per game.

More than often not, Wright draws double teams from opposing defenses. That makes quite a statement considering he plays alongside other talented scorers like Nate Bendall and Dathan Lyles.

Parrish feels like the offensive skills have been there all along for Wright. Where the freshman has made tremendous strides is on the defensive end.

"He's actually not a bad on-ball defender when he wants to be," Parrish said. "What's been different for him is the whole team concept of defense—with rotating and helping and different things like that."

At SLCC, Wright is rewriting his basketball future and it looks good. Wright understands a good audition for potential suitors now will pay dividends later.

"I was already getting recruited out of high school," Wright said. "This gives me another chance to get recruited again. My recruiting starts over."

MADE FOR TV : Dixie State's national television debut featured a flair for the dramatic. DSC edged Chaminade in a 66-64 thriller on Saturday afternoon at Burns Arena. It was the school's first ever basketball game broadcast on CBS College Sports.