Murray Is Entering NBA Draft : Basketball: UCLA forward tells Coach Jim Harrick he will pass up final year of eligibility.

Junior Tracy Murray will announce at a press conference today that he is leaving UCLA to make himself available for next month’s NBA draft, UCLA basketball Coach Jim Harrick said Tuesday.

“It’s something Tracy wanted to do,” Harrick said. “A man ought to do what he wants to do.”

Harrick, vacationing at Hilton Head Island, S.C., said Murray broke the news to him Tuesday.

Murray could not be reached for comment. His mother, Candy, said the family will not comment before today’s 2 p.m. press conference at UCLA.

A 6-foot-8 forward with exceptional shooting range, Murray generally was considered among the top 15 pro prospects in college basketball last season, when he averaged 21.4 points and seven rebounds for a UCLA team that was 28-5 and reached the round of eight in the NCAA tournament.

“He certainly improved a lot in our program--enough to be a (probable) first-round draft choice--and that’s a compliment to everybody in our program,” Harrick said. “I’m very supportive of Tracy. He’s given us three terrific years.”

Twice an All-Pacific 10 Conference choice, Murray made a school-record 78 of his 156 three-point shots last season.

“ ‘Rangiest’ jump shooter in a long, long time,” an NBA scout said recently. “Easier projection to an NBA body than (UCLA’s highly touted) Don MacLean.”

An NBA general manager said Tuesday that Murray would be “the best pure shooter in the draft” and projected him as a top-15 pick.

Murray’s play last season again sparked rumors, ongoing almost from the day he enrolled at UCLA after setting a state scoring record at Glendora High School, that he would leave school early.

But Murray said in February: “I’m coming back.”

He had a change of heart, his father said last week, “because things turned, and we got some positive feedback (from the NBA).”

Murray’s father, Bob, said that he and his wife talked with representatives of more than half of the NBA’s 27 teams.

Harrick spoke with Murray several times in the last two weeks, hoping to persuade him to stay at UCLA for his senior season, but said he got the feeling that Murray already had decided to leave.

Players with college eligibility remaining have until Sunday to declare for the June 24 draft.

Murray will be only the third UCLA player to leave school early for the NBA draft.

Forward Richard Washington left after his junior year in 1976 and center Stuart Gray left after his junior year in 1984.