GREELEY — What does it mean to be an underdog?
“It’s just every time I’m put into a situation, every time my back is against the wall I feel like I preserve,” said former University of Northern Colorado basketball star and NBA prospect Andre “Dre” Spight.
“I’ve always been proving people wrong since day one and I know I can play with whoever.”
The Burbank, California, native took quite the path in getting to Greeley. As a high schooler, the hot-shooting guard committed to UTEP before being forced to go the JUCO route when he was deemed academically ineligible. He spent two years at South Plains College before landing a D1 offer at Arizona State.
As happy as he was to make it to a powerhouse program, Spight wasn’t satisfied playing as a key reserve, where he averaged 6.6 points and 1.3 assists in just 19.5 minutes.
“Everything in life isn’t sweet and easy. You want to go through hard times, rough times, just to bounce back and know what you’re worth it,” Spight explained, recalling one of the hardest decisions of his young life. “So it was good for me to have that rough year at Arizona State, not playing as much as I wanted to or expected to.”
The journey led him to Northern Colorado, where he would be forced to redshirt due to the NCAA’s transfer rule.
When the 2017-2018 season began, Spight was still an unknown in the Big Sky Conference.
By the end of the season, Spight had become a legend.
In his one year at UNC, he broke the school and conference record for single-season scoring with 855 points. He led the Bears to a program-best 26 victories including a CIT Championship, where he won MVP honors after scoring a game-high 26 points. The Big Sky rewarded him as well, naming him the conference’s Most Valuable Player.
An hour and a half south of Greeley, the Denver Nuggets were quietly keeping tabs.
“I didn’t really realize, yeah, I can go to the NBA right after this, you know? It’s just always been a goal of mine and I’m not really playing for the money. I’m just playing for the love of the game and to the highest level I could play at.”
After his college career ended, the Nuggets extended an invitation for a Pre-Draft workout.
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“It was a good workout. It was solid. Went 3-on-3, got some shots up. It was a great workout with a great group of guys.”
It was his only workout with an NBA team, although he did have a face-to-face interview with the Utah Jazz.
“Honestly I’m just living life and playing basketball every single day. I couldn’t be more blessed just to wake up and play the game I love every day. So just trying to make it to the NBA and to the highest level I can and just enjoy the game.”
The NBA Draft will be held Thursday night at 5 p.m. (MT) at the Barclays Center in New York City, New York. Although Spight doesn’t expect his name to be called as one of the top-60 draft picks, his determination to make it to the NBA has never wavered.
“I just got to keep looking in the mirror and keep pushing harder. You gotta know that there’s a lot of things that go into this and just because your name is not called doesn’t mean the dream is over.”
