Wright has the stuff
Guard’s deep love of basketball convinced her to take on variety of roles for Knights
UCF guard Kay Kay Wright’s love for basketball is clear and profound.
Just go looking for the junior point guard on Twitter. You won’t see her name at the top of her profile, but you will find 10 letters, each separated by a single space and in all caps: BASKETBALL. “Basketball is everything me,” she said. to
Wright has been everything for the UCF women’s basketball team this season. Her do-it-all role wasn’t thrust upon her; she knew she had to take the initiative and step up. That’s why her summer vacation was no day at the beach: She spent it in the gym, grinding for at least two to three hours per day, every day.
“I put up, minimum, 500 shots a day,” said Wright, an Orlando Jones High alum. “I never had a day off. I was in the weight room, running, focusing on being in shape because I have to play a lot of minutes. I was always doing something to get better.”
That work has paid off as Wright has become one of the best players in the American Athletic Conference and is pacing the Knights in points, assists, steals, field-goal percentage and minutes.
She will face a big test Sunday, leading the Knights (20-4, 9-2 AAC) against No. 4 UConn (22-2, 10-0 AAC) at 2 p.m. at CFE Arena.
Wright likes to model her game after guards such as the WNBA’s Kristi Toliver and the NBA’s Kyrie Irving. She describes herself as a pretty serious player but also one that is “pretty flashy.” So what part of Wright’s game does she think is her strongest?
“I would think my she said.
For some athletes, that’s a throwaway answer; for Wright, it’s true to her core.
After all, basketball wasn’t the foremost reason she decided to stay close to home and commit to UCF over the likes of Florida, Miami and Auburn. She knew the Knights would best provide her with the opportunity to be something more meaningful and longer lasting than a fantastic player: an leadership,”
equally fantastic leader.
That desire was first molded by Kay Kay’s father, Willie, who was her first coach. She fell in love with basketball as a small child, dribbling off to the side while Willie would put her two older brothers through practices. Once she was old enough to play, around the age of 6 or 7, Kay Kay’s toughness on the court was fortified quickly.
“I started playing with all guys; I was the only girl, and I wasn’t really good at it, not at all,” she said. “I just always had a work ethic. I had a goal in mind, and I knew I had to work to get better at it.
“I definitely think it helped me mature and just learn the game pretty quick.”
That maturation was evident at Jones as she became the Fightin’ Tigers’ unquestioned floor general and made herself into a top-75 player in the nation. She committed to UCF in November 2015, but it wasn’t the basketball program that wowed her most. It was a meeting with C. Keith Harrison.
Whereas Wright tends to speak in an understated tone, Harrison — the chief academic officer of UCF’s DeVos Sport Business Management Program — has a voice that commands the room. The passion and energy he speaks with pours out of him, which is why he carries a towel on his shoulder, just like legendary Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson.
When Harrison met with Wright and her parents during a recruiting visit, the university leader and athlete connected instantly.
“We were all in my office, and in my office they could see the synergy of education, hip-hop, sports, entertainment, all of this. So Kay Kay and I just bonded,” Harrison recalled.
A couple of weeks later, Wright returned as a guest of Harrison’s and sat in the back during one of his lectures inside the Business Administration II building, room 210. Wright now has a class in that room, taught by Harrison, and says getting to be a part of the sports business-management program he founded was the No. 1 reason why she picked UCF.
“I have a really good relationship with Doc Harrison,” she said. “He even came to the game the day that I signed [with UCF], so we have a really great relationship.
“I always talk about building with him. He built his program up from only 10 students to now there’s a waiting list every single semester. Just having that connection with him and just always being a visionary, I think that’s something I always wanted to do.”
Currently, Wright is helping to build the Knights into a perennial winner. UCF won just seven games the season before she arrived prior to the 2016-17 season. The Knights then won a total of 43 games in her first two years and are 20-4 this season, putting them in position to make the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011.
Still, Wright is always coaching, always mentoring. Katie AbrahamsonHenderson, who was named the Knights’ coach prior to Wright’s freshman campaign, says her star guard “has kind of turned into a mini-me.”
Freshman guard Diamond Battles says that Kay Kay became her “big sister” while they played together on the same AAU team.
In fact, as Wright solidified her decision to commit to UCF, she made Battles promise she would join her once she graduated from Winter Haven High.
In 2017, Battles followed through on that promise.
“I really looked up to her because she’s a point guard and the way she led on the floor, playing AAU,” Battles said of Wright. ”The way she handled certain situations and just looking at her grow from AAU to playing college ball, that’s always been one of my key factors of loving how she is as a person and as a basketball player. That really hit the mark with me.”
Said Wright: “Once I got the chance to be on the same program as [Battles], she’s been my little sister ever since. I always talk to her and gave her some of my moves. She took a spin move from school.
“Just being that big sister that she can look up to, it’s pretty amazing to me to be able to be that for her.”
That’s the type of person Kay Kay — only her mother, when she’s upset with her daughter, calls her Korneila — strives to be. She wants to have an impact with her words as much as her play.
The words and actions of her family members, professors me in high and coaches planted that mindset within her, and whether she is on the court or off, Wright wants to pass it on to others.
“I think it’s a way to give back,” Wright said when asked why she aspires to be a coach one day. “My coaches gave back to me through coaching and instilling hard work in me, so I just want to be that person to give back and to inspire others.”