Tyrone Garland

He grew up on South Yewdall Street, near 54th Street and Greenway Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia's Kingsessing neighborhood.

He attended middle school at Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School in the same area.

His cousin Bernard Tyler, a former player at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, helped him learn a basketball move known as the floater.

Tyler told Garland to "just get it over the big man and leave it in God's hands".

Initially, Garland was enrolled at Delaware Valley Charter School, which was located only half a mile from his future college, La Salle University.

However, his cousin Donnel Feaster, an alumnus of John Bartram High School, recommended that Garland attend his alma mater.

The team's head coach, James Brown, said, "I'm always telling my ex-players, 'If you see any good ones, send them my way'...Not that they listen. Don did, though. That's how I got Ty".

Garland ultimately enrolled at Bartram and played under Brown.

A four-year letter winner, he was promoted to team captain in his senior season and garnered several Philadelphia Public League (PPL) accolades.

In both his junior and senior years, the Philadelphia Daily News named Garland first-team All-City and the Associated Press named him a first-team All-State selection.

He led Bartram in his last two seasons there, averaging 28.5 points and 25.1 points per game as a junior and senior respectively.

The team went 73–35 in the years that Garland was with them, and he led them to a PPL championship appearance against Imhotep Institute Charter High School, where Bartram lost 48–56.

He scored 32 points and 6 three-pointers, but his teammates were only 5-for-37 in their shot attempts.

Tyrone W. Garland (born August 13, 1992), nicknamed South West Philly Floater, is an American former basketball player.

In an earlier 2009 Class AAAA playoff contest vs Pocono Mountain East High School, Garland scored eight consecutive points in the final 44 seconds of regulation.

He capped the streak by making a 30-foot shot with 3.3 seconds remaining, and his 40 total points helped Bartram win, 72–67.

Garland scored a total of 2,198 points, making him the top scorer in school history and the third-leading scorer in Public League history.

Maureece Rice, who scored 2,681, and Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 2,206, were the only players who had accumulated more points in their high school careers in the league.

On July 9, 2009, Garland committed to play college basketball for the Hokies of Virginia Tech.

He announced his decision to attend the school at a press conference at the Reebok All-American Camp.

Garland had also considered joining the programs at La Salle, Nebraska, Temple, St. Bonaventure, Maryland, Seton Hall, Providence, and Butler.

La Salle University is based in Garland's hometown of Philadelphia and its head coach, John Giannini, recruited him especially hard out of high school.

His old coach at John Bartram High School, James Brown, supported his commitment to Virginia Tech.

However, after seeing very limited minutes from head coach Seth Greenberg during his first two seasons there, he transferred to La Salle and started competing for the Explorers in late 2012.

Maurice Watson, from the Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, broke both Chamberlain's and Garland's records in 2012, pushing Garland to fourth on the list.

While in high school, Garland also played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball with the Philly Pride.

Amauro Austin, a statistician for the Philadelphia Daily News, directed the program while Garland was there.

Austin commented, "Everybody liked Ty. Not one person didn't. He was loyal, honest; just a solid-gold individual. He didn't have a malicious bone in his body".

Garland often slept during the day and stayed awake at night, leading his peers to think of him as a vampire.

Before becoming a senior, he led the Pride to sixth place at the under-17 national AAU tournament in Orlando, Florida.

The team finished with an 8–1 record due largely to Garland's contributions.

As a junior with his new team, he famously made a game-winning shot dubbed the "Southwest Philly Floater" in the 2013 NCAA tournament.

Before playing college basketball, Garland starred for John Bartram High School in his hometown and was a first-team All-State selection and one of the top scorers in the history of the Philadelphia Public League (PPL).

In his time, he scored the third-most points by any player in the Public League, only being exceeded by Maureece Rice and Wilt Chamberlain.

Garland is currently the fourth-best scorer in PPL history.

Garland was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by his mother, Audrey Tyler.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he joined the Mississauga Power midway in the 2014–15 season, a few months after completing his senior year at La Salle University.

He had several impactful performances with Mississauga in his rookie season and was awarded several starts.

Garland primarily plays the point guard position, but is known as an all-around guard.

Garland, whom Rivals.com and 247Sports.com rated a three-star recruit coming out of high school, started out his collegiate career with Virginia Tech after being recruited by a number of high major college basketball programs.