Tiffany Hayes

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Tiffany Hayes
Tiffany Hayes UConn.jpg
No. 15 – Atlanta Dream
PositionShooting guard
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1989-09-20) September 20, 1989 (age 32)
Fort Polk South, Louisiana
NationalityAmerican / Azerbaijani
Listed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight155 lb (70 kg)
Career information
High schoolWinter Haven (Winter Haven, Florida)
CollegeUConn (2008–2012)
WNBA draft2012 / Round: 2 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Atlanta Dream
Playing career2012–present
Career history
2012–presentAtlanta Dream
2012–2013Hapoel Rishon LeZion
2013–2014Beşiktaş JK
2014America de Recife
2015–2016Yakın Doğu Üniversitesi
2016–2017Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyespor
2017–2018Maccabi Ashdod
2019–2021Perfumerías Avenida
2021–presentÇukurova Basketbol
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Medals
Women's Basketball
Representing  United States
World University Games
Gold medal – first place 2009 Belgrade Team Competition

Tiffany Kiara Hayes (born September 20, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).[1] Hayes played college basketball for the Connecticut Huskies, playing for the 2009 and 2010 NCAA National Champions.

Early life[]

Hayes was born September 20, 1989 in Fort Polk, a town in western Louisiana to Dorothy and Renard Hayes.[2] Her siblings are Jerron and Dontae Hayes, and Latisha Jones.

High school[]

Hayes played basketball for Winter Haven High School in Winter Haven, Florida. The team compiled a 117–9 record during her career, and won the state championship in 2004 and 2007.[2] She was the leading scorer on her team, scoring an average of 18.3 points per game.[3]

Hayes helped lead the AAU team Essence to the 2007 National Championship.[2]

Hayes was invited to the 2007 Youth Development Festival, a USA Basketball sponsored event for elite sophomores and juniors in high school, biennially at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. The 2007 event featured three teams from the US and a team representing Brazil. Hayes was leading scorer of the White USA team, which won five of its games to clinch the gold medal.[4] Hoopgulrz.com named Hayes the outstanding player of the Festival.[5]

Hayes participated in the 2008 Nike SPARQ Training 'My Better' Championship event. She finished the preliminary round as one of the top twenty-two out of the 3,000 high school athletes competing. The top finishers were flown to Nike World Headquarters for the finals.[6] Hayes finished second among all females competing.[7][8]

College career[]

Hayes played for the University of Connecticut Huskies. She knew about the program when she was a little girl, and had interest in UConn since childhood. UConn became interested in Hayes in 2006, when an assistant coach, Tonya Cardoza, saw her playing AAU ball. Despite heavy recruitment by many other schools, UConn made an offer when Hayes was a junior, and Hayes committed to attend Connecticut.[9]

She asked to wear number 3, the number most recently worn by UConn legend Diana Taurasi. Hayes was not a starter at the beginning of the season, but after teammate Caroline Doty was injured, she stepped into the starting line-up. Her career high scoring game was against California in the regional semifinal of the NCAA Championship. Connecticut won every game of the season by double digits, but found itself in the unusual position of being eight points behind in the California game.[10] Hayes scored 28 points to help lead the team to a victory.[11]

Hayes was invited to the tryouts for the USA Women’s World University Games Team. She made the team, as the youngest player on the team, and the only freshman.[12] She helped the team to a 7–0 record and a gold medal in Belgrade, Serbia.[13]

On the fifth of February 2011, the Connecticut Huskies beat DePaul 89–66. This game was the 100th win in Hayes' college career, and occurred in her 101st game, making her the fastest player in NCAA basketball history to reach 100 wins.[14] Hayes scored 35 points against Syracuse on January 26, setting a career high, and followed that up with 33 points against South Florida, two days later. The 68 combined points in back-to-back games is the highest point total in consecutive game by any Connecticut player in history.[15]

College statistics[]

Statistics at University of Connecticut[16][17]
Year G FG FGA PCT 3FG 3FGA PCT FT FTA PCT REB AVG A TO B S MIN PTS AVG
2008–09 39 109 238 0.458 46 123 0.374 63 83 0.759 156 4.0 102 57 15 44 1002 327 8.4
2009–10 39 130 296 0.439 45 140 0.321 91 124 0.734 129 3.3 116 85 15 40 1028 396 10.2
2010–11 38 167 383 0.436 51 146 0.349 134 173 0.775 174 4.6 139 91 15 52 1203 519 13.7
2011–12 38 186 370 0.503 44 108 0.407 143 177 0.808 221 5.8 126 98 10 87 1148 559 14.7
Totals 154 592 1287 0.460 186 517 0.360 431 557 0.774 680 4.4 483 331 55 223 4381 1801 11.7

Professional career[]

WNBA[]

Hayes was selected by the Atlanta Dream as the second pick in the second round, the 14th overall pick.[18] In her rookie season, Hayes played 34 games with 17 starts while averaging 8.6 ppg as a reserve on the Dream's roster. She was named to the WNBA All-Rookie team.[19]

In her second season, Hayes played 23 games with 4 starts and averaged 11.3 ppg. That season, the Dream had advanced all the way to the 2013 WNBA Finals, but were swept by the Minnesota Lynx.

In the 2014 season, Hayes officially became the starting shooting guard for the Dream, and had averaged 12.9 ppg.

In 2016, Hayes re-signed with the Dream to a multi-year deal once her rookie contract expired.[20] During the 2016 season, Hayes averaged 15 ppg. In a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, Hayes scored a career-high 32 points. Her stellar performance continued into the playoffs, where she scored a playoff career-high 30 points in the second round elimination game against the Chicago Sky in a losing effort.

In 2017, with the team's leading scorer Angel McCoughtry deciding to rest during the season, Hayes took on more scoring responsibility in her absence and continued to improve offensively. She was voted into the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her very first all-star game appearance. By the end of the season, Hayes put up a career-high scoring average of 16.3 ppg, but the Dream finished with a 12–22 record, missing out on the playoffs.

In 2018, with the return of McCoughtry, the Dream was back in the mix for a playoff spot and eventually emerged as a title contender. Hayes was voted into the 2018 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her second all-star game appearance. She finished the season with a new career high in scoring. The Dream finished 23–11 with the number 2 seed in the league, receiving a double-bye to the semi-finals. McCoughtry was sidelined with a knee injury and the Dream were eliminated by the Washington Mystics in five games.

On August 10, 2019, Hayes scored a new-career high 34 points in a 87–82 loss to the Indiana Fever.[21] With McCoughtry sidelined for the whole season with a knee injury, the Dream finished with a league worst 8–26 record.

Overseas[]

In the 2012-13 off-season, Hayes played in Israel for Hapoel Rishon LeZion. In the 2013-14 off-season, Hayes played in Turkey for Beşiktaş JK for the first portion of the off-season and spent the second portion of the off-season playing in Brazil for America de Recife. In the 2015-16 off-season, Hayes played in Turkey once again for Yakin Dogu. As of August 2016, Hayes signed with Mersin BSB S.K. for the 2016-17 off-season.[22] In 2017, Hayes signed with Maccabi Ashdod for the 2017-18 offseason.[23] In 2019, Hayes signed with Perfumerías Avenida of the Spanish League for the 2019-20 off-season and renewed for 2020-2021.

International competitions[]

Hayes became an Azerbaijani citizen, and competed for the Azerbaijan women's national basketball team at the 2015 European Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan during June 2015. She had also competed in the 3x3 basketball event.[24]

WNBA career statistics[]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career high ° League leader

Regular season[]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2012 Atlanta 34 17 23.1 .390 .273 .786 3.1 2.1 0.8 0.3 1.5 8.6
2013 Atlanta 23 4 22.3 .406 .377 .745 3.7 1.7 1.1 0.1 1.7 11.3
2014 Atlanta 34 32 28.4 .464 .357 .760 3.0 2.5 1.0 0.2 1.1 12.9
2015 Atlanta 28 27 29.9 .392 .274 .805 3.0 2.2 1.0 0.3 1.6 12.9
2016 Atlanta 33 33 30.8 .441 .274 .804 3.4 2.4 1.2 0.2 1.7 15.0
2017 Atlanta 33 33 30.0 .436 .372 .854 3.8 2.4 1.2 0.2 1.8 16.3
2018 Atlanta 31 29 28.9 .441 .321 .817 3.6 2.7 1.1 0.2 1.6 17.2
2019 Atlanta 29 29 28.2 .393 .308 .764 3.0 2.8 1.0 0.2 2.4 14.7
Career 8 years, 1 team 245 204 27.8 .423 .319 .797 3.3 2.4 1.1 0.2 1.7 13.6

Postseason[]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2012 Atlanta 3 0 16.3 .364 .333 1.000 2.3 1.7 1.6 0.3 1.6 4.3
2013 Atlanta 8 6 28.4 .390 .353 .767 4.5 1.9 0.6 0.0 1.3 12.4
2014 Atlanta 3 3 31.1 .481 .333 .900 3.0 2.0 0.3 0.3 1.3 12.7
2016 Atlanta 1 1 36.7 .588 .429 .875 6.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 30.0
2018 Atlanta 5 5 33.6 .444 .375 .800 6.2 3.4 1.4 0.2 2.0 16.4
Career 5 years, 1 team 20 15 28.7 .435 .362 .818 4.5 2.3 1.0 0.2 1.6 13.1

Awards and honors[]

  • 2007—MVP, Nike Nationals, HoopGurlz.com[3]
  • 2007—First Team, All-State 5A (Florida)[3]
  • 2008—McDonald's All-America[25]
  • 2008—Parade Magazine All-America[2]
  • 2009–10—Wade Watch[26]
  • 2010–11—Wade Watch[27]
  • 2011—First Team All Big East[28][29]
  • 2012—WNBA All-Rookie Team[19]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Tiffany Hayes". UConnHuskies.com. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
  2. ^ a b c d "Tiffany Hayes". UConnHuskies.com. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  3. ^ a b c "Tiffany Hayes". HoopGurlz.com. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  4. ^ "USA WOMEN'S YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FESTIVAL -- 2007". USA Basketball. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  5. ^ "Prospect Watch - Aug. 3". Hoopgurlz.com. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  6. ^ "Nike Hosts Nationwide Search..." PR-Insider.com. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  7. ^ "My Better Championship". Nike. Archived from the original on June 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  8. ^ "Girls Basketball Testing Protocols". Nike SPARQ. Archived from the original on November 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  9. ^ Fuoco, Roy (March 2, 2007). "Tiffany Hayes, UConn Are Each Other's First Picks". The Ledger. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  10. ^ "Freshman Hayes' 28 points power UConn to rout". ESPN. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  11. ^ Clark, Jim. "Tiffany Hayes: (Leave) Open at Your Own Risk!". Scout with Foxsports.com. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  12. ^ "2009 Women's World University Games Team" (PDF). USA Basketball. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  13. ^ "TWENTY-FOURTH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES -- 2009". USA Basketball. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  14. ^ "Maya Moore's 34 points, 11 rebounds lift UConn in rout of DePaul". ESPN. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  15. ^ Hays, Graham (29 January 2012). "Tiffany Hayes steals the headlines". ESPN. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  16. ^ "Season Statistics". UConnHuskies.com. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  17. ^ "UCONN Season Statistics". University of Connecticut. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  18. ^ "2012 WNBA DRAFT". WNBA. Retrieved 7 Oct 2012.
  19. ^ a b "Nneka Ogwumike, Glory Johnson Headline 2012 All-Rookie Team". WNBA. Retrieved 7 Oct 2012.
  20. ^ Dream re-sign Tiffany Hayes to multi-year contract Dream re-sign Tiffany Hayes to multi-year contract
  21. ^ Dream fall to Fever for ninth straight loss
  22. ^ 2016-2017 WNBA Overseas Signings/
  23. ^ WNBA Players Playing Overseas
  24. ^ "Tiffany Hayes and Aneika Henry will miss next 5 games". Sports Fire. June 15, 2015. Retrieved 15 Jun 2015.
  25. ^ "2008 McDonald's(R) All American Basketball". Thomson Reuters. 2008-02-20. Archived from the original on 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  26. ^ "Preseason Wade Watch list announced". NCAA. Aug 5, 2010. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014.
  27. ^ "WBCA Announces Preseason Selections for the 2009-2010". WBCA. July 30, 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  28. ^ Adamec, Carl (March 4, 2011). "Primed for more". Journal Inquirer.com.
  29. ^ Fuller, Jim (March 4, 2011). "UCONN WOMEN: Hayes joins Moore as first team All-Big East selection". New Haven Register. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
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