Billy Owens

Title

Assistant Coach

Assistant Coach          Billy Owens (8th season)
High School:                Carlisle (Carlisle, PA)
College:                        Syracuse University

A former collegiate All-American and NBA star, Billy Owens returns to the Rutgers-Camden coaching staff for his eighth season in 2017-18.

One of the top scholastic players in the country during his days at Carlisle High School in Pennsylvania, Owens led his team to four consecutive state titles and was named the Co-MVP of the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game in 1988. He went on to attend Syracuse University, where he earned All-American Third Team honors from both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and United Press International (UPI) during his sophomore season in 1989-90. During the summer of 1990, he was a member of the U.S. National Team that captured the bronze medal at the FIBA World Championship.

Owens turned his junior season at Syracuse into a showcase for his talents as he was named the 1990-91 Big East Conference Player of the Year and swept First Team All-American honors from the Associated Press, United States Basketball Writers Association, NABC and UPI. He averaged 23.3 points and 11.6 rebounds while leading Syracuse to its first-ever Big East regular-season title. His season remains the top-scoring season by a junior in Syracuse history. Despite playing only three seasons with the Orange, his 1,840 points still ranks 12th on the program’s all-time list, while he also ranks eighth on the Syracuse career list with 910 rebounds and seventh on the career chart with 216 steals.

Owens’ Syracuse career came to a premature end when he was selected as the third overall pick of the 1991 NBA Draft, being taken in the first round by the Sacramento Kings. Traded to the Golden State Warriors in November, 1991, he went on to average 14.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in his first season and earn a spot on the 1991-92 NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Owens went on to post a 10-year NBA career, playing for Golden State, Miami, Sacramento, Philadelphia and Detroit. In 600 career games (475 starts), he notched 7,026 points (11.71 ppg) and 4,016 rebounds (6.69 rpg). He added 1,704 assists (2.84 apg), 569 steals (0.95 spg) and 321 blocks (0.54 bpg). He collected a career-high 34 points against the Los Angeles Clippers (Dec. 30, 1995) and a career-high 22 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons (Nov. 28, 1993). He also notched career highs of 11 assists against the Minnesota Timberwolves (April 1, 1994), six steals against the Philadelphia 76ers (Nov. 8, 1991) and four blocks against the Houston Rockets (April 5, 1996).