Wright looks for answers during shooting slump

Sophomore guard Bracey Wright seems to have all the right award nominations and accomplishments attached to his name.\nHe was recently named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 10 First Team. He is a finalist for two national college basketball player of the year awards -- the Rupp Award and the Naismith Award.\nWright is only 49 points away from becoming the 39th player in IU history to score 1,000 career points.\nOhio State junior forward Terence Dials even noticed the effect that Wright has on the IU team and said after IU's win against Ohio State that Wright was the heart and soul of the team.\n"He is a great player who is hard working," Dials said. "When you have those characteristics, you are going to be successful."\nWright has earned five Big Ten Player of the Week honors in his career, three of which he earned this season. Besides Glenn Robinson, Wright is the only player in league history to earn at least five Player of the Week honors in his first two seasons.\nBut Wright doesn't walk into a room with his head held higher than his teammates. He doesn't show arrogance or talk like he's better than anyone else.\nAfter all, in IU's most recent home game, he made only one of 12 field goal attempts. This is the same player that scored a career-high 39 points earlier this season at North Texas.\nPut all the personal accomplishments and award nominations aside and you have a 6-foot-3 Wright from The Colony, Texas, who says expectations sometimes leave him with the weight of the world on his shoulders.\nPutting the most weight on Wright's shoulders has been his shooting slump on IU's home court in Assembly Hall, but Wright said he takes these situations and tries to learn from them. \n"God puts you through things to see how you're going to react and to see if you're going to split or stay together," Wright said. "He's testing every single one of us right now, and we have to become tighter as a team and just keep going no matter what happens." \nThe same building Wright comes to every day and the same court and same hoop he practices with are what have given him the most trouble his sophomore year.\nIn IU's seven Big Ten road games this season, Wright has scored a total of 138 points. In IU's six home games, he's scored a total of 83 points. That's an average of 19.7 points per game on the road and 13.8 ppg at home, a difference of almost six points per game.\nIU has lost all of its last four home games by a total of 9 points.\n"I think it's gotten into my mind right now, and you know, before every game I talk to myself and tell myself I'm going to come out and play strong and knock down every shot I take," Wright said, his frustration clear from the look on his face. "When we start and I shoot, the basket is regulation size. As I miss, it gets smaller and smaller, and by the time the end of the game comes, it looks like I'm shooting a basketball into a cup of water."\nIn the last three games alone, Wright is 11 of 44 from the floor and 3 of 15 from beyond the arch.\nIU coach Mike Davis said he has told Wright not to let things get to his head and that there isn't even time for Wright to let things get to him mentally. \nDavis said maybe Wright feels too much pressure at home and the key is for him to relax.\nThere is one thing that Davis said he knows does not help out the Hoosier's leading scorer -- booing from the fans. \n"When a kid is struggling the worst thing you can do is make him feel bad about it and not be pulling for him," Davis said. "He needs a lot of love and a lot of support."\nWright is hoping the love and support of his teammates will be enough to get the Hoosiers (12-12, 6-7 Big Ten) into the NCAA tournament. He said he has faith in everyone on his team, from the coaching staff to the players who don't even get to play in every game.\nIt's a matter of getting hot, Wright said, and he knows that applies to himself as well. He said the team was clicking together at the beginning of the Big Ten season and they just need to find the spark that will kick-start the team and get them on fire.\nConfident but never cocky, Wright said there is no doubt in his mind the team will make the NCAA tournament.\n"I only want to play in the NCAA tournament," Wright said. "I think that when they have the selection show, I believe in my mind and in my heart that they will call our name out."\n-- Contact staff writer Natalie A. Trout at natrout@indiana.edu.