Under Jim Calhoun, UConn Men's Basketball produced 27 NBA Draft Picks and 10 All Americans..Not to mention his three National Championships...Only three of those 10 were named All Americans Twice....Rip Hamilton, Emeka Okafor and Ray Allen....
Ray's Family were Air Force People...Castle AFB in California, then stops in England, Edwards AFB, Oklahoma and Germany before settling in South Carolina and playing for Hillcrest High School. And Basketball was Ray's outlet..Practice, Practice, Practice on what would become a beautiful jump shot and other wonderful moves that made him what he was at UConn and the NBA...The choice of colleges were numerous, it looks as if it came down to Kentucky and UConn. Allen chose the Huskies and the program Coach Calhoun was trying to build in Storrs.
Arriving for the 1993-94' season on a stacked roster, led by All American Donyell Marshall, the Huskies went 29-5 that included a 16-2 Big East record earning them their first outright regular season title....Allen came off the bench and produced nightly..a UConn Bench record 24 double figure games. Averaging 12.6p and 5rpg...earning him a spot on the Big East All Rookie Team in a year he scored 429 points and shot 40% from three point range...But the Huskies couldn't get to the Final Four as the two seed in the east, losing to Florida in the Sweet 16...
The 1994-95 season was a year for another first for UConn, led by Allen, Donnie Marshall, Kevin Ollie and Deron Scheffer, the Huskies on February 13th earned it's first #1 National Ranking. A 28-5 season in which the Huskies again won the Regular Season Big East Title..Allen scoring 30 pts in 4 different games, racked up 675 points (21.1pg) and was a 45% shooter outside the arc...Earning him First Team All Big East honors...In the NCAA's the Huskies were sent out west where they beat Joe Smith and Maryland in the Sweet 16. Allen an 18p-11r double-double, one of three on the season. But UCLA was too much for Allen and the Huskies in a fantastic Regional Final in Oakland, where Allen scored 36 as he was named to the All Regional Team. And at Season's end, earned his first - First Team All American nomination.
The 1995-96 campaign would be even better where the Huskies would again excel. A 32-3 record, which at the time was the most in program history...17-1 in the Big East to make it a regular season three peat and finally, won the Tournament Championship...A 75-74 nail biter against Georgetown when the Huskies used a game ending 12-0 run to win. Allen's off balance runner in the lane proving to be the game winner...Allen posting 7 double doubles while scoring 30 in at least four games, including a Gampel Record 39 against Rutgers, a pair of 31 point games in Hartford and he holds the UConn record for three made in a game both at Gampel (9) and Hartford (8).....818 points, a 23.5ppg average, 47% from three and a program record 115 made three's in his junior year. Big East Player of the Year and a repeat All American selection. The first in UConn Men's history...And he also made three's in 42 consecutive games....But the dream of giving Jim Calhoun his National Championship again had to wait as Mississippi St ended the Huskies run in Lexington in the Sweet 16...
Needless to say, Ray Allen was ready for the NBA, forgoing his senior year. He was drafted 5th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but traded on draft day to Milwaukee with Andrew Lang, so that the T-Wolves could select Stephon Marbury. Over his 18 season, NBA Career, Ray would score 24,505pts, hold the All Time Record for three's made at 2973 and add another 335 made in the postseason. A 10x All Star with stops in Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston and Miami. When he was brought to Boston by Danny Ainge, so was Kevin Garnett to accent Paul Pierce and the trio gave The Celtics and Allen an NBA Championship, beating the Lakers in six games. Allen making 7 three's in the clincher at the Garden. But the Lakers got payback in 2010, beating the Celtics in seven..
Ray's then decided after the 2011-12 season, it was time to move on. Which didn't sit well with Celtics players or fans...He went to Miami and played with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade...in 2013, the Heat went toe to toe with San Antonio in the Finals...Allen with a clutch right corner three in the Final Seconds of Game Six to force OT is perhaps Ray's signature professional moment that ended in another NBA Championship.
Ray Allen is also an Olympic Gold Medalist, playing from Team USA in Sydney in 2000. In 2007, Allen was named to the inaugural class of the Huskies of Honor at Gampel, joining the All Time UConn Greats...and in September of 2018, Allen was the first UConn Men's Player to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, joining his coach, Jim Calhoun...which prompted a UConn First. In late February of 2019, Allen's #34 and Rebecca Lobo's #50 were retired permanently to the Gampel Rafters as members of the Hall of Fame...
Ray also has some acting ability...Perhaps you remember Ray as "Jesus Shuttlesworth" in Spike Lee's "He Got Game" alongside Denzel Washington in 1998....and later "Harvard Man" in 2001 about a young man and throwing basketball games where he was a teammate. And yes, he appeared in one of the "Uncle Drew" features with Kyrie Irving and losing a game of horse...Ray's Married with 4 kids and is heavily involved in the National Holocaust Memorial Council as appointed by President Obama as he has been a longtime supporter of the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. And in 2018, Allen's Autobiography, "From the Outside" was released....
Walter "Ray" Allen...All American, NBA All Star & Champion and an Olympic Gold Medalist....Forever a UConn Legend