BYU’s Robert Wright III was named a 2026 College Sports Communicators Third Team Academic All-American on Apr. 14.
Wright III is the first BYU player to receive Academic All-American honors since TJ Haws in 2020, making him the 12th player in program history to earn this recognition. The award highlights his achievements both on and off the court during the season.
He is one of five players from the Big 12 Conference to be included on this year’s list, along with Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey, Kansas’ Flory Bidunga, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin, and Arizona’s Tobe Awaka. As a sophomore, Wright III earned Third Team All-Big 12 accolades for his performance in the 2025-26 season. He averaged 18.1 points, 4.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game.
Wright III recorded a total of 162 assists during the season—tied for tenth most in BYU program history—and scored a total of 632 points, matching Danny Ainge’s mark from the 1977-78 season for twentieth most all-time at BYU.
Throughout the season he scored in double figures in thirty-two games, including thirteen games with at least twenty points and two games with thirty or more points. His career-high came when he scored thirty-nine points in an overtime win against Colorado on Valentine’s Day.
In his first year playing for BYU in Provo, Wright III also had two double-doubles. One highlight was a ten-point and eleven-assist performance that helped secure a twenty-eight-point victory over No. 23 Wisconsin—the highest assist total by any Cougar against a ranked opponent since the mid-1990s.
