Matt Maloney graduated from Haddonfield High School. He then attended Vanderbuilt University where he started in 30 games and averaged 4.1 points a game. He then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, or Penn as it commonly called, where he played for 3 seasons to be closer to his father who was who was a basketball coach himself and Matts biggest mentor. For more on this check out the "ABOUT MATT" section.

At Penn in his senior year, Matt became The Ivy Leauge Player of the Year in '94-'95. He led Penn in scoring averaging 14.6 points per game and was second in steals and assists. Matt holds all of Penn's 3-point records, quite impressive, and he is Penn's career leader in steals and holds the record for the most steals in a single season grabbing 62. Despite being The Ivy League Player of the Year in '95 at Penn, Matt went undrafted by the NBA and spent one year in the CBA.

Matt played for the Continental Basketball Association's Grand Rapid Mackers in '95-'96. There Matt started all 56 games, notice a pattern here....consistent play is one of Matts biggest attributes. Matt averaged 12.1 points, 5.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game. He also shot a searing 40.5 percent from behind the 3-point arc, had a team-high of 310 assists and ended the year second in rebounding, yanking down 62. His performance earned him a postion on the 1996 CBA's All-Rookie Second Team.

A scout for the Rockets, by the name of Joe Ash, was the first to take up Matt Maloney's cause. He sat Rudy T. down and played a VCR tape of Matt's highlights and warned Rudy to ignore the silly Grand Rapid uniforms and Matt's thick legs sticking out from the baggy shorts and just watch the player. Rudy watched and was apparently sold on Matt's performance, at least enough to invite him to the Rockets' free-agent summer camp.

Matt was signed as a Rocket Oct.1, 1996....but still when Brent Price broke his elbow in a pre-season game, Rudy drew up a list of possible replacements, all with credentials in the NBA, to take Brent's place and took it to the veterans for their advice. Barkley and the others advised Rudy to trash the list because Maloney was the man for the job. That was just the beginning of Matt's incredible story of how an undrafted rookie out of the CBA who was originally just supposed to be a back-up point-guard ended up becoming the #1 point-guard in a starting line-up that included 3 of the NBA's All-Time Best, and led to a 57-win season that would take Matt all the way to the Western Conference Finals.