IRVING, Texas — BYU’s Robert Wright III was one of two players unanimously voted to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team, the league announced on Thursday morning.
Unanimous selections Wright III and Texas Tech’s JT Toppin were joined on the All-Big 12 Preseason Team by Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas (Preseason Player of the Year) and Ivan Kharchenkov, Arizona State’s Paulius Murauskas (Preseason Newcomer of the Year), Kansas’ Tyran Stokes (Preseason Freshman of the Year), Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey, TCU’s Xavier Edmonds and Houston’s Dedan Thomas Jr. and Joseph Tugler.
The Cougars were picked to finish sixth in the annual preseason poll voted on by the league’s head coaches. Defending regular season and tournament champions Arizona were selected to win the league picked up 12 of the 16 first-place votes. Houston is second with its four first-place vote followed by Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech.
BYU comes in sixth with 148 points with TCU, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Baylor rounding out the Top 10. Oklahoma State comes in at 11th followed by Arizona State, UCF, Colorado, Kansas State and Utah.
Wright III returns for his junior season after averaging 18.1 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game last season helping the Cougars advance to the NCAA Tournament for a 33rd time in program history. He recorded a pair of double-doubles including a 10-point, 11-assist performance in BYU’s 28-point victory over No. 23 Wisconsin, the third-largest win over a ranked opponent in program history.
The 6-foot-1 guard from Wilmington, Del. scored in double figures in 32 of 35 games he started for the Cougars including a career-high 39 points in BYU’s overtime victory over Colorado where he went 12-of-16 from the field, 4-of-4 from 3-point range and 11-of-13 from the free throw line. He also scored a then-career-high 30 points earlier in the week in his return to Baylor helping BYU end a four-game losing skid with a 99-94 victory over the Bears.
His biggest moment came in the The World’s Most Famous Arena with his game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Clemson in the Jimmy V Classic. After trailing by 22 points earlier in the second half, Wright III and the Cougars stormed back to take the lead late and seal the victory with the Cougars' first buzzer beater since 2019.
BYU opens the 2026-27 regular season on Monday, Nov. 2, when the Cougars face-off against Ohio State at Delta Center. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT on FS1.