Shooting Stars: NCAA DI Conference Tournament Individual Scoring Marks
Detroit guard Antoine Davis abused Robert Morris with 46 points, breaking Horizon League Tournament scoring record of 45 set by Byron Larkin of Xavier in 1986. Davis is on precipice of joining Louisiana State's Pistol Pete Maravich as the only two players in NCAA history averaging at least 24 points per game in three straight seasons while playing under their father.
Do you know the individual boasting highest-scoring game in history in an NCAA Division I conference postseason tournament is a genuine gamebreaker-turned-lawbreaker? You can find him in prison serving a life sentence without parole after facing felony charges stemming from automobile hijacking, kidnapping the driver by holding a gun to his head and robbing a convenience store following a 3 1/2-year stint in prison for a probation violation. Well, it's Marshall guard Skip Henderson, who erupted for 55 points in the 1988 Southern Conference quarterfinals against The Citadel. Marshall (also C-USA) and Texas Tech (Big 12 and SWC) are the only schools to have two players hold existing league tourney scoring marks in two different NCAA Division I alliances.
Three mid-major leagues - America East (twice after three-time MVP Jameel Warney's 18-of-22 field-goal shooting five years ago for Stony Brook), Ivy League (Bryce Aiken two years ago) and Summit - provide the only players setting existing NCAA DI conference tournament scoring marks in a tourney final. All-Americans Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina) and Cliff Hagan (Kentucky) accounted for the two of following DI league tourney scoring standards (ACC and SEC) standing since the 1950s:
| Conference | Round | Record Holder | School | HG | Opponent | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| America East | Final | Taylor Coppenrath | Vermont | 43 | Maine | 3-13-04 |
| America East | Final | Jameel Warney | Stony Brook | 43 | Vermont | 3-12-16 |
| American Athletic | Semifinal | Russ Smith | Louisville | 42 | Houston | 3-14-14 |
| Atlantic Coast | Quarterfinal | Lennie Rosenbluth | North Carolina | 45 | Clemson | 3-7-57 |
| Atlantic Sun | Quarterfinal | Reggie Gibbs | Houston Baptist | 43 | Georgia Southern | 3-7-89 |
| Atlantic 10 | Quarterfinal | Tom Garrick | Rhode Island | 50 | Rutgers | 3-7-88 |
| Big East | Quarterfinal | Donyell Marshall | Connecticut | 42 | St. John's | 3-11-94 |
| Big Eight | Quarterfinal | Eric Piatkowski | Nebraska | 42 | Oklahoma | 3-11-94 |
| Big Sky | First | Randy Onwuasor | Southern Utah | 43 | Montana State | 3-7-17 |
| Big South | Quarterfinal | Chris Clemons | Campbell | 51 | UNC Asheville | 3-2-17 |
| Big Ten | First | Michael Thompson | Northwestern | 35 | Minnesota | 3-10-11 |
| Big 12 | First | Mike Singletary | Texas Tech | 43 | Texas A&M | 3-11-09 |
| Big West | First | Josh Akognon | Cal State Fullerton | 37 | UC Riverside | 3-11-09 |
| Colonial | Semifinal | Justin Wright-Foreman | Hofstra | 42 | Delaware | 3-11-19 |
| C-USA | Semifinal | Trey Freeman | Old Dominion) | 42 | Western Kentucky | 3-11-16 |
| Horizon League | First | Antoine Davis | Detroit | 46 | Robert Morris | 2-25-21 |
| Ivy League | Final | Bryce Aiken | Harvard | 38 | Yale | 3-17-19 |
| Metro Atlantic | Quarterfinal | Kevin Houston | Army | 53 | Fordham | 2-28-87 |
| Mid-American | Semifinal | Ron Harper | Miami (Ohio) | 45 | Ball State | 3-8-85 |
| Mid-Eastern Athletic | First | Richard Toussaint | Bethune-Cookman | 49 | Morgan State | 3-11-03 |
| Missouri Valley | Quarterfinal | Hersey Hawkins | Bradley | 41 | Indiana State | 3-5-88 |
| Mountain West | Semifinal | Jimmer Fredette | Brigham Young | 52 | New Mexico | 3-11-11 |
| Northeast | Quarterfinal | Rahsaan Johnson | Monmouth | 40 | St. Francis (N.Y.) | 3-3-00 |
| Ohio Valley | Quarterfinal | Charles "Bubba" Wells | Austin Peay | 43 | Morehead State | 2-25-97 |
| Pac-12 | Quarterfinal | Klay Thompson | Washington State | 43 | Washington | 3-10-11 |
| Patriot League | Quarterfinal | Joe Knight | Lehigh | 45 | Colgate | 3-4-05 |
| Southeastern | Semifinal | Cliff Hagan | Kentucky | 42 | Tennessee | 3-1-52 |
| Southeastern | Quarterfinal | Melvin Turpin | Kentucky | 42 | Georgia | 3-8-84 |
| Southern | Quarterfinal | James "Skip" Henderson | Marshall | 55 | The Citadel | 3-4-88 |
| Southland | Quarterfinal | Kenneth Lyons | North Texas | 47 | Louisiana Tech | 3-10-83 |
| Southwest | Semifinal | Rick Bullock | Texas Tech | 44 | Arkansas | 3-5-76 |
| Southwestern Athletic | unavailable | unavailable | unavailable | TBD | unavailable | TBD |
| Summit League | Final | Bill Edwards | Wright State | 38 | Illinois-Chicago | 3-8-93 |
| Sun Belt | Quarterfinal | Dee Brown | Jacksonville | 41 | Old Dominion | 3-3-90 |
| West Coast | Quarterfinal | Tim Owens | San Francisco | 45 | Loyola Marymount | 3-2-91 |
| Western Athletic | Quarterfinal | Mike Jones | Texas Christian | 44 | Fresno State | 3-6-97 |
NOTE: Scoring outbursts by Fredette (Mountain West), Garrick (Atlantic 10), Gibbs (Atlantic Sun), Harper (Mid-American), Henderson (Southern), Houston (Metro Atlantic Athletic), Lyons (Southland) and Piatkowski (Big Eight) are also existing school single-game standards. Warney's output is highest for Stony Brook at DI level.