Tyus Edney

Tyus Dwayne Edney Sr. (born February 14, 1973) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the San Diego Toreros men's team of the West Coast Conference (WCC).

Listed at 5 ft, he played point guard.

He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins from 1991 to 1995, leading them to the 1995 NCAA national championship.

In his freshman season at UCLA in 1992, Edney was named the most valuable freshman player on his team.

In his sophomore season, Edney was voted the team's most valuable player (MVP), and he was named to the first-team All-Pacific-10 (Pac-10) Conference team.

He was again named to the first-team All-Pac-10 conference team in 1994.

As a senior in 1994–95, Edney set personal bests in total points (456), steals (74), and assists (216).

He was named the team's co-MVP along with Ed O'Bannon, the team's most outstanding defensive player, first-team All-Pac-10 for the third consecutive year, and won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the nation's best player under 6 ft tall.

Edney's UCLA squad 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, after calling timeout, turned to Edney, the point guard, rather than to their star player, Ed O'Bannon.

Cameron Dollar inbounded the ball to Edney who caught it in stride and took off up the left sideline.

A Missouri defender picked him up at about the top of the key, although not with extreme on-ball pressure due to a fear of fouling.

At midcourt, another defender attempted to trap, but Edney used a behind-the-back dribble that evaded the pressure.

After Edney reached the Missouri key, 6'9" Missouri forward Derek Grimm slid over in an attempt to stop him. Edney adjusted his shot around Grimm, and banked the shot in at the buzzer. The ball dramatically drained through the net as the game ending red light blazed. UCLA won the game 75–74.

Two games later against the Connecticut Huskies, Edney had another chance at a full court run before the half, and drained a 30-foot 3-pointer en route to a 102–96 victory.

His game-winning shot for UCLA, in the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament, is considered to be one of the most famous plays in NCAA Tournament history.

Edney's late game heroics in the 1995 Men's Division I Basketball Tournament have earned him a spot in NCAA Tournament lore.

Edney was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the second round of the 1995 NBA draft with the 47th overall pick.

He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team and played with the Kings for two seasons (1995–1997).

He spent the 1997–1998 season with the Boston Celtics.

After playing in Europe for 2 years (Lithuania 1998–1999, and Italy 1999–2000), he returned to the NBA, and played with the Indiana Pacers, in the 2000–2001 season.

In total, he played in 4 NBA seasons.

In the NBA, he could never top his rookie year with the Kings, when he averaged 10.8 points per game, and had a career total of 491 points.

In the 1998–1999 season, Edney won the EuroLeague championship with the Lithuanian club Žalgiris Kaunas, earning the EuroLeague Final Four MVP award in the process.

He and teammate George Zidek, who also won a title with Edney at UCLA, became the first players to win both an NCAA and EuroLeague championship.

A two-time All-EuroLeague First Team selection, he led Žalgiris Kaunas to the 1999 EuroLeague title and was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP.

He became an assistant coach for UCLA.

Edney then played in Italy, during the 1999–2000 season, with Benetton Treviso (losing in the Italian League finals, and winning the Italian Cup title).

After that season, he spent the next season (2000–2001) playing in the NBA.

Following his departure from the NBA, in 2001, Edney bounced around several European teams, including another stint with Benetton Treviso (2001–2004, where he won the Italian league in 2002 and 2003, the Italian Cup in 2003 and 2004, and the Italian Supercup in 2001 and 2002; and played in the EuroLeague Final in 2003) and Lottomatica Roma (2004–2005).

After the 2004–2005 season, George Garbolas brought Edney to Olympiacos, in order to help the team challenge in Greece and in Europe.

Edney was one of the players upon whom the new Olympiacos team was supposed to be built, but he only played there for one season, in 2005–2006.

In the 2006–2007 season, he returned to Italy, to play with Climamio Bologna.

He started the 2008–2009 season in the Spanish club Cajasol Sevilla, and then (January 2009) moved to the Polish club Turów Zgorzelec.

Edney was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009, as well as the Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor in 2014.

He ranks second in the school's history in career assists (652) and third in steals (224).

UCLA went on to win its 11th NCAA basketball championship, defeating the defending champion Arkansas Razorbacks 89–78, (although Edney, with a wrist injured in the semi-final win vs. Oklahoma State, mostly watched from the bench).

But UCLA's record 11th National Championship would have been impossible had Edney's full court runner vs. Missouri not fallen.

Edney was named to the Tournament Western Regional All-Tournament team.