Melvin Lamont McCants (born August 19, 1967) is an American retired

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 (appr ...

player. Along with James Farr, Derek Boyd and

Chris Calloway Christopher Fitzpatrick Calloway (born March 29, 1968) is a former American football player. Calloway played professional football as a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, including seven seasons for the New Yor ...

, McCants led

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...

to th
1985 Illinois state basketball championship
It is the only Illinois AA high school boys basketball championship won by a

Chicago Catholic League The Chicago Catholic League (CCL) is a high school athletic conference based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. All of the schools are part of the Illinois High School Association, the governing body for Illinois scholastic sports. While some o ...

School. He was selected to the 1982 and 1983 State Farm Holiday Classic all-tournament teams. After high school, McCants attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, located in

West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city, ...

, to play under legendary coach Gene Keady. Along with teammates Troy Lewis and Todd Mitchell, the forward helped the

Boilermakers A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

win back-to-back

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

titles and NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet Sixteen in 1988. McCants played with the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

during the 1989–90 season.

External links

NBA stats
@ basketballreference.com 1967 births Living people American men's basketball players Los Angeles Lakers players Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) players Small forwards Undrafted NBA players Basketball players from Chicago {{1960s-US-basketball-bio-stub