Georgia Tech sophomore forward Moses Wright elevated his game in his sophomore season and appears to be in for a big junior season.
Entering this season, Moses Wright was in line to be a quality rotational and depth player for the Yellow Jackets. When it’s all said and done, Wright’s impact in 2018-19 was a notable one for the Yellow Jackets. As a sophomore year, Wright appeared in 30 games for the Yellow Jackets, five more than his freshman total. In the process of the 30 games, he made 21 starts, up 11 from his freshman season and averaged 18.5 minutes per game. An increase of about two minutes per game from his freshman average of 16.6 minutes.
Overall, Wright averaged 6.7 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game. Both were increases from his freshman year averages as well.
Offense:
Offensively, Wright didn’t get off to a fast start and really didn’t pick it up until the last few weeks of the season. That being said, Wright still put together a quality season and shot well from the floor. Overall, Wright’s shooting percentage climbed astronomically this season from .307 to .468. It’s a tremendous climb from one season to another and shows the dedicated and hard work that he put in during the offseason.
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The amazing part of Wright’s season was his late-season explosion that really bolstered his stats. Over his first 25 games of the season, Wright averaged 4.9 points per game. He had just three games of 10-points or more. In the Jackets last five games, however, Wright averaged 15.6 points per game and had four games of double-digit efforts including a 25-point performance in the conference tournament.
When it comes to the advanced stats, they show that Wright did make some significant improvements from his freshman season. First, his offensive rating went from 73.7 to 91.5. Now, while 91.5 is still not ideal, it is a considerable offensive rating when considering where he was a year ago. That 20-point increase is despite Wright seeing just a small increase in usage rate from 20.1% to 22.8%. Additionally, Wright saw a decrease in his turnover percentage, dropping from 18.2% to 14.1%.
Overall, it was a quality offensive season for Wright with all things considered. While he didn’t make as much of an impact throughout the season as he did in the final weeks of the season, Wright was still a quality rotational and depth player for the Jackets.
Defense:
Defensively, Wright was good as a freshman and he was good once again as a sophomore this season. After posting a defensive rating of 101.1 as a freshman, Wright’s defensive rating fell to 97.9 this past season. He saw a slight increase in his defensive rebound rate from 17.3% to 17.5% but his overall rebounding percentage did fall from 12.2% to 11.7%. One other place he did see an increase defensively is his block rate from as it ticked up about four-tenths of a point from 3.4% to 3.8%. Overall, he was a more valuable defensive player than he was a year ago as he owns a defensive win share of 1.0.
Going Forward:
Wright should be in turn for a bigger role as a junior in 2019-20 and if the end of his sophomore season is any indication, he could be in for a huge step forward. He should challenge for a starting role early on and could end up being a huge part of the Jackets offense.