Tyus Edney

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Tyus Dwayne Edney (born February 14, 1973 in Gardena, California) is an American professional basketball player, known for one of the greatest plays in college basketball history. Edney played point guard for UCLA from 1991-1995, and led the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA National Championship. He is listed at 5'10", 152 lbs.

1 Basketball career
2 The shot
3 External links
4 Notes

[edit] Basketball career

In his senior season, Edney set several personal bests such as total points (456), points per game (14.3), steals (74), and assists (216). At the end of his collegiate career, he was selected drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the second round, with the 47th overall pick, of the 1995 NBA Draft. He played with the Kings for two seasons. He spent two more seasons in the NBA, with the Boston Celtics in 1997-1998 and with the Indiana Pacers in 2000-2001 (playing for Euroleague winner Žalgiris between those seasons). But he could never top his rookie year with the Kings, when he averaged 10.8 ppg and had 491 total assists. Following his departure from the NBA, he has bounced around several European teams, including Benetton Treviso from 2001-2004, Virtus Roma in 2004-2005, Olympiacos in 2005-2006 and Fortitudo Bologna in 2006-2007.

Edney was voted Import Player of the Year in the 2002 EuroBasket All-Europe Rankings.^[1]

[edit] The shot

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While Edney's pro career has been vagabond, his late game heroics in the 1995 NCAA Basketball Tournament have earned him a spot in NCAA Tournament lore, like Danny Ainge in 1981, Christian Laettner in 1990 and 1992, and Bryce Drew in 1998. Edney's UCLA had played well in the 1994-1995 season, earning a No. 1 seed in the West Region of the tournament. Favored in their second round match against eighth seed Missouri, UCLA fell behind 74-73 with just 4.8 seconds remaining. Bruins coach Jim Harrick called timeout and turned to Edney, the point guard.

Cameron Dollar inbounded the ball to Edney who took off up the left sideline. A Missouri defender picked him up at about the top of the key, though not with extreme on-ball pressure due to a fear of fouling. At midcourt, another defender attempted to trap Edney, who avoided the pressure with a behind-the-back dribble. After Edney reached the Missouri key, 6'8" Missouri forward Derek Grimm slid over in an attempt to stop him. Edney adjusted his shot around Griim, and banked the shot in at the buzzer. UCLA won the game 75-74.

Two games later against Ray Allen's Connecticut Huskies, Edney had another chance at a full court run before the half, and drained a 25-foot 3-pointer en route to a 102-96 victory. UCLA went on to win its 11th NCAA basketball championship defeating the defending champion Arkansas Razorbacks 89-78, making Edney's shot against Missouri that much more memorable.