‘Without Eastern, I’m not where I’m at’: Former Eagles guard Tyler Harvey carving out role in Australia’s professional basketball league
It was just more than 10 years ago that the basketball story of Tyler Harvey began in earnest.
Despite an inauspicious start, the former Eastern Washington University All-America sharp-shooter has had his share of stops and success in the past decade. He even has a recent appearance on the “Family Feud” game show on his resume.
But one thing has certainly not changed since his days in Cheney: He’s as electrifying as ever – especially from 3-point range.
The Illawarra Hawks of the 10-team National Basketball League in Australia have been Harvey’s home for the past three seasons, where he’s now a teammate of another former Eagle, Mason Peatling. Harvey has averaged 18.5 points with 297 made 3-pointers in 92 career games, and will begin season four later this year with a NBL schedule that spans from September to February.
“I’m humbled to be able to do this,” Harvey said from his home on the east coast of Australia, near Sydney. “I don’t take any of it for granted. I still work like I’ve done nothing. That feeling can’t leave because once it does, it’s over.”
Just more than a decade ago, Harvey had found his footing in college basketball as a redshirt freshman at EWU. On this coming July 17, he’ll turn 30.
David Riley, now EWU’s head basketball coach, was the school’s director of basketball operations a decade ago. Harvey remembers Riley rebounding shots for him at all hours of the day.
“Tyler’s work ethic set the foundation to our program,” Riley said. “He loved the process.”
Originally, it took a chance meeting on an airplane to bring Harvey to the Inland Northwest, and another twist that led him to Cheney.
Jim Hayford, then a successful coach at Whitworth University, sat next to Frank Harvey, a basketball official and Tyler’s father. Frank told Hayford about his son from Torrance, California, and Hayford recruited him to play for the Pirates.
But Hayford got the job at EWU and Harvey agreed to walk-on. After a redshirt season, Harvey was rarely called on early in as a redshirt freshman in 2012-13. He had scored just 17 points in 13 games he played during what is termed “garbage time” because the outcome of the game had been determined by then.
That is, until his garbage time was extended in a game at Northern Arizona on Feb. 9, 2013. After that performance, he was no longer underused or underappreciated.
“I was surprised he hadn’t played very much up to that point,” veteran EWU radio play-by-play announcer Larry Weir said. “From everything I had heard, he was playing well and scoring a lot in practices against the starters.”
Eastern was down by 18 points late in the game, but Harvey came off the bench to score 14 points in the last 8:31 and rallied the Eagles to a 77-74 overtime victory. The real fireworks came in the last 3:42 when Eastern trailed by 13, and Harvey hit a pair of 3-pointers in overtime to seal the win.
“My career hasn’t been the same ever since that day,” Harvey said. “I’ve been blessed enough to play all over the world. I got drafted and I’m still playing 10 years later. That game changed the trajectory of my life.”
Harvey finished the season as the hottest Eagle, scoring 132 points (16.5 average) on 55% shooting from the field (52 of 94, including 20 of 44 3-point attempts) in EWU’s last eight games. That just set up his sophomore and junior seasons.
He averaged 21.8 points with 109 3-pointers in 2013-14 to earn All-Big Sky Conference first-team honors and become the first Eagle since Rodney Stuckey to earn NABC All-District 6 honors.
As a junior, Harvey led Eastern Washington to a Division I school-record 26 wins and a share of the Big Sky regular-season title, the Big Sky Tournament title and a spot in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Harvey finished the season as Division I national scoring leader at 23.1 points per game.
He skipped his senior season to enter the 2015 NBA draft, and the Orlando Magic selected him in the second round as the 51st overall pick. In summer league, Harvey averaged 10.6 points, 2.0 assists and 1.4 rebounds for the Magic’s “Blue” team. The following year, he averaged 7.0 points per game.
But he couldn’t get past the NBA Development League while playing for the Erie BayHawks. In July 2018, his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies and he again played in the developmental league for the Memphis Hustle in what had become the NBA G League.
In 38 games for the Hustle in 2018-19, Harvey hit 102 of 236 3-point attempts for 43.2% and averaged 16.8 points with a high outing of 58 points with 13 3-pointers made. He earned first-team NBA G League All-Winter Showcase honors after finishing with 49 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds in a pair of Showcase games.
After the NBA All-Star game, he was close to being called up to the the Grizzlies, but a broken foot derailed his plans .
Harvey was in disbelief with the timing of the injury.
“It was one of those moments you just ask, ‘Wow, why did this have to happen when I’m so close to getting a call-up?’ ”
He recovered enough to play nine games during the 2019 NBA Summer League as the starting point guard for the Grizzlies. He averaged 12.2 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game, and hit 25 of 65 3-pointers (38.5%) as the team won the title in Las Vegas.
But instead of waiting around for training camp, he accepted an offer to play in Germany. With other stops in Italy and France during his eight-year professional career – and a bump in the road caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – his extended stay in Australia has provided some consistency to his journey.
“Those first four or five years were as bumpy as ever,” said Harvey, whose NBA rights have been held by the Charlotte Hornets since 2021. “It was a constant battle to stick through it and just trust in your abilities. I had to fight another day and keep up the grind. I didn’t have guaranteed success out of the gate – they were challenging times for sure.”
Head coach Brian Goorjian led Illawarra, and it was their conversation that turned into an offer to have Harvey join the Hawks for the 2020-21 season. He averaged 20.4 points in his rookie year and earned All-NBL first-team honors.
“It’s been home for us for four years – everybody here in the community is amazing, and we have the best fans,” Harvey said. “The location is unbelievable and right on the beach, and it’s very safe and family-friendly. It’s amazing. I love it here.”
A year ago, Harvey was one of the few key returning players when the Hawks slipped to 3-25. The 6-foot-8 Peatling is one of the pieces the Hawks hope will help them be a contender in the NBL for the 2023-24 season. Peatling arrived in Cheney in 2016 from Australia just after Harvey departed, and then compiled similar accolades .
Peatling played the past three seasons in the NBL for Melbourne United, averaging 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds in 87 career games. Besides playing against Peatling in the league, Harvey has played against Venky Jois, his former EWU teammate.
“It’s an Eastern Washington reunion in Illawarra,” Harvey said. “Eags for life always find a way to link up, don’t we?”
Recently, Harvey served as team captain during a three-night appearance in May on “Family Feud” with the “Harvey Family.” Host Steve Harvey remarked that in his 13-year-run with the show, it was the first time a family with his surname has been on the show.
Tyler’s team included his wife, Haley, who he met at EWU where she was a soccer player (Haley Stading then). His brother-in-law Grant Stading, mother Susan Pengelly and stepfather Steve Pengelly were also on the team.
“Oh, my goodness,” Tyler Harvey said about the appearance. “We’ve always loved ‘Family Feud,’ particularly during COVID back in the States with Haley’s family. I said once, ‘That would be fun to be on and we’d probably be really good at it,’ but I was kind of kidding.”
Haley submitted an application, starting a two-year vetting and audition process. Among other requirements, it included a submission of their wedding video and a mock rehearsal playing the game via Zoom.
Tyler made the trip from Australia to California to meet up with his family, and then it was on to Atlanta for the taping. They taped all three segments on the same day last July, but they weren’t aired until May.
“It was a long process to make it all happen,” Harvey said. “It ended up all working out.”
The Tyler family unseated the defending champions in the first show, but Tyler and his mom only managed a 118 score in the “Big Money” round. In the next show, the Harveys defended the title, and Grant and Steve earned the family $20,000 by exceeding 200 points in the final round.
The Harveys took an early lead in the next show, but were blitzed after that and unseated.
Tyler and Haley are making a much-anticipated trip to the West Coast this month to show off their baby boy, Tatum, who was born on March 11.
A few weeks before Tatum’s birth , EWU asked Harvey to tape the narration to a highlight video used to preview the Eagles’ appearance in the Big Sky Conference Tournament. The Eagles, who won 18 consecutive games during the season, were upset by Northern Arizona on a 3-pointer at the buzzer – the same type of clutch shots Harvey has made throughout his playing career.
“Without Eastern, I’m not where I’m at,” said Harvey, who received his communications degree from EWU with a 3.7 grade-point average. Haley received her business degree in 2015, and they were married in July 2019.
“Eastern always has a special place in my heart and I’m always willing to help.”
Harvey lends no hints about how long he expects his career to last, and where he’ll play.
“I like to live in the present,” he said. “We’ll focus on the season ahead and see what happens. Things always work out the way they are supposed to.
“If I had a magic crystal ball, that would be nice. But I don’t, so it’s, ‘Who knows?’ ”