Background
Owens was born in San Francisco, California.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Keith Owens
Edit ProfileEducation
He attended college at the University of California, Los Angeles (University of California, Los Angeles) instead, where he made the Bruins basketball team in his first year in 1987 as a 6-foot-8-inch (203 m) walk-on under coach Walt Hazzard.
Career
The forward played one season with the Lakers in the 1992-1992 season. He played college basketball for four seasons for the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins from 1987 through 1991. He was 6 feet 5 inches (196 m) and played center in high school at Birmingham High in Van Nuys, California.
Owens was more concerned with his education than being able to play basketball.
He rejected athletic scholarship offers from Cal Poly Pomona and Hawaii. However, Owens played so infrequently that year that he calculated his points and rebounds by the minute rather than by the game.
By his sophomore year under new coach Jim Harrick, Owens earned a scholarship. He became an integral part of the team in his final two seasons.
In his senior year, he was co-captain of the team and averaged 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds a game and blocked 61 shots.
Harrick called Owens "the best post defender we have—a real force for us."
Owens made the Los Angeles Lakers roster for the 1991-1992 season after having to walk-on their Summer Pro League team After being waived by the Lakers before the following season in October 1992, he played in France in 1992-1993 with Montpellier Paillade Basket in the Ligue Nationale de Basket. Afterwards, he went to Spain for a stint with Joventut Badalona in the Liga ACB.
Owens co-hosted the show Bruin Talk on Fox Sports West in 2000, interviewing University of California, Los Angeles athletes and coaches.
