Allan Ray

Allan Ray

Ray in 2007
No. 25 – Virtus Bologna
Position	Point guard / Shooting guard
League	Lega Basket Serie A
Personal information
Born	(1984-06-17) June 17, 1984 New York City, New York
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school	St. Raymond (The Bronx, New York)
College	Villanova (2002–2006)
NBA draft	2006 / Undrafted
Playing career	2006–present
Career history
2006–2007	Boston Celtics
2007	Austin Toros
2007–2009	Lottomatica Roma
2009	Carife Ferrara
2010–2011	Sutor Montegranaro
2011	Krka Novo Mesto
2011–2012	Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez
2012–2013	Ratiopharm Ulm
2013–2014	Cedevita Zagreb
2014–2015	Virtus Bologna
2016-present	GSA Udine
Career highlights and awards
Croatian League champion (2014) Consensus second-team All-American (2006)

Allan Ray (born June 17, 1984^[1]) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for GSA Udine of the Lega Basket Serie A2. He played college basketball for four years at Villanova University. He played one season (2006–07) with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. Ray is known as an above average, but streaky, three-point shooter, who is skilled at creating his own shot. At 6'3" and 205 pounds, he is an average-sized guard.^[2]

College career

Ray was recruited out of that year's New York State Champions, St. Raymond High School, by Villanova head coach Jay Wright. He committed to the Wildcats in 2001, along with three other players that made up a highly praised recruiting class. Along with Randy Foye, Curtis Sumpter and Jason Fraser, Ray was part of a class proclaimed as the players to lead the Wildcats back to a championship.^[3]

Freshman and sophomore seasons

Ray's career at Villanova was slightly hampered by injuries, but nothing that kept him from scoring 2,000 points as a Wildcat. His freshman season, he was a key contributor. He had 16 points in his Wildcat debut against Marquette on November 15, 2002.^[4] As a sophomore he averaged a team-leading 17.3 points per game.^[5]

Junior season

In his junior season, Ray was named second team all-Big East and led the Wildcats in scoring with 16.2 ppg.^[6] That year, he also led Villanova to the Sweet 16 of the 2005 NCAA Tournament where they lost to eventual national champion North Carolina by one point.^[7]

Senior season

His senior season was arguably Ray's best season as a college player when he averaged 18.5 ppg.^[8] Villanova tied for the Big East regular-season championship with UConn and split their two games with the Huskies. Their final Big East regular-season record was 14-2. Overall, their record was 28-5. In 2006, Ray was named to the Big East first team, along with teammate Randy Foye, who was given the honor of Big East Player of the Year. Ray led Villanova to the Elite Eight of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, playing in a four-guard offense with Foye, Kyle Lowry and Mike Nardi.

Eye injury

During the 2006 Big East Tournament, Ray was poked in the eye by Carl Krauser during the semifinal game against Pittsburgh. His vision apparently left him for a period of time and his eyeball had seemed to come loose from the socket, leading most to believe it was an extremely serious injury. However, his vision returned and it turned out to be only soft tissue damage. He was able to play less than a week later in the NCAA tournament, without goggles. In his first game back, he led Villanova in scoring. While on the video it appeared as though his eye came loose from the socket, his eyelid actually went behind his eye, giving off the impression of his eye coming loose.^[9]

Professional career

Ray during a game with the Celtics

Ray was not selected in the 2006 NBA Draft, surprising many Big East fans and some NBA experts. On July 6, 2006, he was signed as a free agent by the Boston Celtics.^[10] Ray was sent to the D-League Austin Toros, but was recalled after just two games there. He led the Toros in scoring in both games he played for them.^[11] During the last two months of the season, Ray began receiving extended playing time with the Celtics, and had two 22-point games and three others where he scored 20, 18 and 17 points. Ray was also fourth among rookies in three-point percentage.^[12] Despite a seemingly bright future in Boston, Ray agreed to terms on a $2 million contract to play in Italy, instead of having the Celtics pick up his $687,456 option.^[13]

Ray signed with the Euroleague club Lottomatica Virtus Roma on July 27, 2007.^[14] Mid-way through the following season, after the club signed Brandon Jennings (whom Ray served as a mentor to),^[15] Ray left to sign a contract with Carife Ferrara for the remaining part of the season. After sitting out the 2009–10 season to recover from knee surgery, Ray signed with Sutor Montegranaro for the 2010–11 season.^[16]

In November 2011 he signed a temporary contract with BC Krka in Slovenia,^[17] but in December 2011 he signed a new contract with Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez in France.^[18]

In August 2012 he moved to Germany and signed with ratiopharm Ulm for the 2012–13 season.^[19]

In November 2013 he signed with the Croatian team Cedevita Zagreb for the rest of the 2013–14 season.^[20]

On July 30, 2014, he signed with Virtus Bologna for the 2014–15 season.^[21][22]

Family

In 2011, Allan Ray's brother, Kendrick Ray, a 6'1" guard, is a player at Kennesaw State University.^[23]

References

External links

• Euroleague.net Player Profile