List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders


In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throw or field goal. In National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I basketball, where a player's career is at most four seasons, it is considered a notable achievement to reach the 1,000-points scored threshold. In even rarer instances, players have reached the 2,000- and 3,000-point plateaus. The top 25 highest scorers in NCAA Division I men's basketball history are listed below. The NCAA was not organized into its current divisional format until August 1973. From 1906 to 1955, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States. Then, from 1956 to spring 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division " or "NCAA College Division ".
Numerous players among the top 25 scorers in Division I history played in the era before the three-point line was officially adopted in 1986–87. All of the players with a dash through the three-point field goals column were affected by this rule. Hank Gathers of Loyola Marymount is the only three-point shot era player on this list who did not make a single three-point shot. In the 1986–87 season, the three-point arc was made mandatory in men's basketball, marked at from the center of the basket; at the same time, the three-point arc became an experimental rule in NCAA women's basketball, using the men's distance. In the following season, the men's three-point line became mandatory in women's basketball, and from that point through the 2007–08 season, the three-point lines remained at. On May 3, 2007, the NCAA men's basketball rules committee passed a measure to extend the distance of the men's three-point line back to ; the women's line remained at the original distance until it was moved to match the men's distance effective in 2011–12.
Additionally, several of the players on this list played during an era when college freshmen were ineligible to compete at the varsity level and competed on either freshman or junior varsity teams. As freshman and junior varsity statistics do not count toward official NCAA records, three players—Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson and Elvin Hayes—only had three seasons to compile their totals. Larry Bird redshirted his freshman year, and therefore, like Maravich, Robertson, and Hayes, his totals were also achieved in only three seasons. With the advantage of the three-point option and an extra year of varsity eligibility, their already-historical statistics would have been much higher. Maravich, a guard from LSU, not only owns the three highest single season averages in Division I history, but also the highest career total. Remarkably, he scored 3,667 points in a mere 83 games. His record is considered nearly unbreakable.
Four players on this list are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson, Elvin Hayes, and Larry Bird.

Key

Pos.GFCRef.
PositionGuardForwardCenterReferences

^Player still active in NCAA Division I
*Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Team Denotes the number of times a player from that team appears on the list

Top 25 career scoring leaders

PlayerPos.TeamCareer
start		Career
end		Games
played		Field goals
made		3-point
field
goals made		Free
throws made		PointsPPGRef.
*GLSU19671970831,387
—
8933,66744.2
F/GPortland State197419781061,369
—
5113,24930.7
GCampbell201520191301,0244447333,22524.8
FLa Salle198619901311,244566733,21724.6
GMississippi Valley State198919931091,1213335903,16529.0
FCreighton201020141451,1412745943,15021.7
FSouth Dakota State201520191371,0052717863,06722.4
FTexas Southern197919831101,234
—
5983,06627.9
GSaint Peter's200220061189674356893,05825.9
GBradley198419881251,1001186903,00825.5
*GCincinnati19571960881,052
—
8692,97333.8
FKansas198419881471,216105092,95120.1
GLoyola 198119851201,226
—
4622,91424.3
*C/FHouston19651968931,215
—
4542,88431.0
FNorth Carolina20052009142939129822,87220.2
*FIndiana State19761979941,154
—
5422,85030.3
GHouston 197319771161,176
—
4802,83224.4
GBethune-Cookman /
U.S. International		198719911111,0271326182,80425.3
G/FTennessee198919931289023466512,80121.9
GDuke200220061398254576622,76919.9
GMarquette201620201288644345992,76121.6
F/CSouthern California /
Loyola Marymount		198519901171,12704692,72323.3
GBYU200920151399171627242,72019.6
FNortheastern198319871221,043305922,70922.2
G/FLehigh198419881181,024296262,70322.9

All-time conference scoring leaders

The following list contains current and defunct Division I conferences' all-time scoring leaders. The "conference founded" column indicates when each respective conference first began intercollegiate athletic competition, not necessarily when they began basketball. For example, the Great West Conference was established as a football-only conference in 2004 but became an all-sports conference in 2008. Also note that some of the schools on this list are no longer in the conference in which they are identified. Utah, for instance, is currently a member of the Pac-12 Conference, but when Keith Van Horn set the scoring record they were still a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Similarly, BYU is currently in the West Coast Conference, but their final four seasons in the Mountain West Conference were the years in which Jimmer Fredette played at the school and set that conference's scoring record.
.
amassed an ACC-record 2,872 points at North Carolina.
netted a Sun Belt record 2,679 points at New Orleans.
, the Ivy League's all-time leading scorer, is also in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
ConferenceConference
founded		Conference
disbanded		PlayerSchoolCareer
start		Career
end		PointsRef.
America East1979—Northeastern198319872,709
American Athletic2013—Temple201620201,860
American South19871991Southwestern Louisiana198719912,294
Atlantic 101976—Temple198719912,609
ACC1953—North Carolina200520092,872
Atlantic Sun1978—Centenary198019842,535
Big 121996—Oklahoma201220162,291
Big East1979—Marquette201620202,761
Big Eight19071996Kansas198419882,951
Big Sky1963—Montana State201520192,518
Big South1983—Campbell201520193,225
Big Ten1896—Indiana198919932,613
Big West1969—Long Beach State198919932,312
CAA1982—*Navy198319872,669
Conference USA1995—Marshall201520192,636
East Coast19581994Lehigh198419882,703
Great Midwest19901995Saint Louis199119951,910
Great West20042013NJIT200920131,726
Horizon1979—Loyola 198119852,914
Ivy1901—*Princeton196219652,503
MAAC1980—La Salle198619903,217
Metro19751995Virginia Tech198619902,484
MAC1946—Ball State199419982,485
MEAC1970—Howard201620202,404
Missouri Valley1907—Bradley198419883,008
Mountain West1999—BYU200720112,599
NEC1981—Wagner198319872,591
OVC1948—Eastern Illinois199920032,602
Pac-121959—UCLA198819922,608
Pacific Coast19151959*Washington195019531,774
Patriot1986—Lehigh200920132,361
SEC1933—*LSU196719703,667
Southern1921—Davidson200620092,635
Southland1963—*McNeese State198119852,607
Summit1982—South Dakota State201520193,067
Sun Belt1976—New Orleans200320082,679
SWC19141996Texas199119952,306
SWAC1920—Mississippi Valley State198919933,165
West Coast1952—Loyola Marymount198719902,490
WAC1962—Utah199319972,542

Footnotes