Allan Nathaniel Ray (born June 17, 1984) is an American sports agent and former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for four years at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

. He played one season ( 2006–07) with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

College career

Ray was recruited out of that year's

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

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.

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. As a sophomore, he averaged a team-leading 17.3 points per game.

Junior season

In his junior season, Ray was named second team all-

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

and led the Wildcats in scoring with 16.2 ppg. That year, he also led Villanova to the Sweet 16 of the 2005 NCAA tournament where they lost to eventual national champion

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

by one point.

Senior season

His senior season was arguably Ray's best season as a college player when he averaged 18.5 ppg. Villanova tied for the Big East regular-season championship with

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

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 The Big East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year award is given to the men's basketball player in the Big East Conference voted as the top performer by the conference coaches. It was first awarded at the end of the league's inaugural se ...

. 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 Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. 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.

Professional career

Ray was not selected in the

2006 NBA draft The 2006 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2006, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. c ...

, surprising many Big East fans and some

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

experts. On July 6, 2006, he was signed as a free agent by the

. Ray was sent to the D-League

Austin Toros Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

, but was recalled after just two games there. He led the Toros in scoring in both games he played for them. 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. Despite a seemingly bright future in Boston, Ray agreed to terms on a $2 million contract to play in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, instead of having the Celtics pick up his $687,456 option. Ray signed with the

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

club Lottomatica Virtus Roma on July 27, 2007. Midway through the following season, after the club signed Brandon Jennings (whom Ray served as a mentor to), 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. In November 2011 he signed a temporary contract with

BC Krka Košarkarski klub Krka (English: Basketball Club Krka), commonly referred to as KK Krka or simply Krka, is a Slovenian professional basketball team based in Novo Mesto that competes in the Slovenian First League and the ABA League. They play the ...

in Slovenia, but in December 2011 he signed a new contract with

Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez Elan Corporation plc was a major drugs firm based in Dublin, Ireland, which had major interests in the United States. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ELN, the Irish Stock Exchange as ELN.I, and the London Stock Exchange as ELN. ...

in France. In August 2012, he moved to Germany and signed with

ratiopharm Ulm Ratiopharm Ulm, officially stylized as ratiopharm ulm, is a professional basketball club based in Ulm, Germany. The club has two teams, one professional team, which plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the major German professional league an ...

for the 2012–13 season. In November 2013, he signed with the Croatian team Cedevita Zagreb for the rest of the 2013–14 season. On July 30, 2014, he signed with

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

for the 2014–15 season. On March 11, 2015, he signed a two-year contract extension with Virtus. On March 31, 2016, he parted ways with Virtus. In 2015–16 season, he played only six games due to an injury. On October 30, 2016, he signed with Amici Pallacanestro Udinese of the Italian

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian basketball league system, Italian league pyramid, below the firs ...

. On March 30, 2017, he parted ways with Udinese. On April 3, 2017, he signed with Turkish club

TED Ankara Kolejliler TED Ankara Kolejliler Spor Kulübü, more commonly known as TED Ankara Kolejliler is a professional basketball team from the city of Ankara in Turkey. Their home arena is the Ankara Arena with a capacity of 10,400 seats, which was opened in April ...

for the rest of the 2016–17 BSL season. On December 4, 2017, Ray signed with Byblos Club of the

Lebanese Basketball League The Lebanese Basketball League is recognized as the top-tier professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Lebanon. It is organized annually as a national championship with playoffs and a national cup by the Lebanese Basketb ...

.Allan Ray signs with Byblos in Lebanon
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Career statistics

NBA

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Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

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References

External links

*
Profile
at euroleague.com
Profile
at legabasket.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Allan 1984 births Living people ABA League players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Croatia American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon American expatriate basketball people in Slovenia American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Austin Toros players Boston Celtics players Élan Béarnais players KK Cedevita players KK Krka players Virtus Roma players Point guards Ratiopharm Ulm players Shooting guards Basketball players from Brooklyn Sutor Basket Montegranaro players TED Ankara Kolejliler players Undrafted NBA players Villanova Wildcats men's basketball players Virtus Bologna players Byblos Club players APU Udine players