Tyus Edney

College career

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 1994–96, 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 feet (1.8 m) tall.

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

1995 NCAA Tournament

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

NBA and EuroLeague career

Edney was selected 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 (1995–1997). He spent two more seasons in the NBA, with the Boston Celtics in 1997–1998 and with the Indiana Pacers in 2000–2001. Between those seasons he played for EuroLeague winner Žalgiris earning the EuroLeague Final Four MVP title and, during the 1999–2000 season, in Italy for Benetton Treviso (losing in the Italian League finals and winning the Italian Cup). In the NBA, he never could top his rookie year with the Kings, when he averaged 10.8 ppg and had 491 total assists.

Following his departure from the NBA in 2001, Edney bounced around several European teams, including another stint with Benetton Treviso (2001–2004, won the Italian league in 2002 and 2003, Italian Cup in 2003 and 2004 and Italian Supercup in 2001 and 2002, 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. Tyus Edney was one of the players upon whom the new Olympiacos was supposed to be built, but he played there only one season in 2005–2006. In the 2006–2007 season he returned to Italy to play for Climamio Bologna. He started the 2008–2009 season in Cajasol Sevilla and then (January 2009) moved to Turów Zgorzelec.

In a 2005 profile in the L.A. Times, former UCLA teammate Ed O'Bannon said that Edney was hugely popular in Europe, saying "his style, his size, the fact that his teams always win; he's somewhat of a novelty, a celebrity. When my teammates overseas found out that I played with him, it would be like someone in the States finding out that you played with Michael Jordan."

Post-playing career

On August 2, 2010, it was announced by UCLA head coach Ben Howland that Edney had joined the Bruins as director of men's basketball operations.

On April 21, 2017, UCLA announced that Edney had been promoted to a full assistant on coach Steve Alford's staff, replacing Ed Schilling, who left to join Archie Miller's staff at Indiana.

Career statistics

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Personal life

Edney and his wife, Buffy, have two daughters, Kennedi and Kolbe-Rae. Kennedi is a college gymnast for the LSU Tigers.