Shooting Stars: NCAA DI League Tournament Individual Scoring Standards

March 3rd, 2020 - 12:36

Do you know the individual boasting highest-scoring game in history in an NCAA Division I conference postseason tournament is a 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.

Four mid-major leagues - America East (twice after three-time MVP Jameel Warney's 18-of-22 field-goal shooting four years ago for Stony Brook), Big Sky, Ivy League (Bryce Aiken last year) 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 Final Anthony Johnson Montana 42 Weber State 3-11-10
Big Sky Quarterfinal Tyler Harvey Eastern Washington 42 Idaho 3-12-15
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 Marcus Thornton William & Mary 37 Hofstra 3-8-15
C-USA Quarterfinal DeAndre Kane Marshall 40 Tulsa 3-8-12
Horizon League Semifinal Byron Larkin Xavier 45 Loyola of Chicago 2-28-86
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 Round 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 Bubba Wells Austin Peay 43 Morehead State 2-25-97
Pac-12 Quarterfinal Klay Thompson Washington State 43 Washington 3-10-11
Patriot League Semifinal Rob Feaster Holy Cross 43 Navy 3-5-94
Patriot League Quarterfinal Mark Lueking Army 43 Bucknell 3-4-95
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), Johnson (Big Sky), Lyons (Southland) and Piatkowski (Big Eight) are also existing school single-game standards. Warney's output is highest for Stony Brook at DI level.