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 (NCAA) Division I basketball, where a player's career is at most four seasons long, 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 (no player has ever scored 4,000 or more points at the Division I level). The top 25 highest scorers in NCAA Division I men's basketball history are listed below. The NCAA did not split into its current divisions 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 (IAAUS). Then, from 1956 to spring 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)".

Some of the top 25 scorers in Division I history played before the three-point line was officially instituted in 1986–87. All of the players with a dash through the three-point field goals made 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. From the 1986–87 season through the 2007–08 season, the three-point perimeter was marked at 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) for both men's and women's college basketball. 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 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) (the women's line would remain the same).

Additionally, several of the players on this list played during an era when college freshmen were ineligible to compete at the varsity level and were forced to participate on either freshman or junior varsity teams. Since freshman and junior varsity points do not count toward official NCAA records, three players—Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson and Elvin Hayes—only had three seasons to compile their totals. With the added benefits of a three-point line and a full 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 (over 400 more than the next closest player) in a mere 83 games. His record is generally considered unbreakable; the only player who could have potentially overthrown him as the top scorer in Division I history is Stephen Curry of Davidson, who had scored 2,635 points through his first three seasons of college basketball. However, Curry opted to forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility and moved on to the National Basketball Association (NBA) following his junior season in 2008–09.

Five players on this list are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson, Elvin Hayes,Larry Bird and David Robinson.

Key

Pos.	G	F	C	Ref.
Position	Guard	Forward	Center	References

*	Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Team (X)	Denotes the number of times a player from that team appears on the list

Career scoring leaders

Elvin Hayes finished with 2,884 points.

J. J. Redick is also the all-time leader in three-point field goals made (457).

Player	Pos.	Team	Career start	Career end	Games played	Field goals made	3-point field goals made	Free throws made	Points	Ref.
Maravich, PetePete Maravich*	G	LSU	1967	1970	83	1,387	—	893	3,667
Williams, FreemanFreeman Williams	F/G	Portland State	1974	1978	106	1,369	—	511	3,249
Simmons, LionelLionel Simmons	F	La Salle	1986	1990	131	1,244	56	673	3,217
Ford, AlphonsoAlphonso Ford	G	Mississippi Valley State	1989	1993	109	1,121	333	590	3,165
Kelly, HarryHarry Kelly	F	Texas Southern	1979	1983	110	1,234	—	598	3,066
Clark, KeydrenKeydren Clark	G	Saint Peter's	2002	2006	118	967	435	689	3,058
Hawkins, HerseyHersey Hawkins	G	Bradley	1984	1988	125	1,100	118	690	3,008
Robertson, OscarOscar Robertson*	G	Cincinnati	1957	1960	88	1,052	—	869	2,973
Manning, DannyDanny Manning	F	Kansas	1984	1988	147	1,216	10	509	2,951
Hughes, AlfredrickAlfredrick Hughes	G	Loyola (IL)	1981	1985	120	1,226	—	462	2,914
Hayes, ElvinElvin Hayes*	C/F	Houston	1965	1968	93	1,215	—	454	2,884
Hansbrough, TylerTyler Hansbrough	F	North Carolina	2005	2009	142	939	12	982	2,872
Bird, LarryLarry Bird*	F	Indiana State	1976	1979	94	1,154	—	542	2,850
Birdsong, OtisOtis Birdsong	G	Houston (2)	1973	1977	116	1,176	—	480	2,832
Bradshaw, KevinKevin Bradshaw	G	Bethune-Cookman / U.S. International	1987	1991	111	1,027	132	618	2,804
Houston, AllanAllan Houston	G/F	Tennessee	1989	1993	128	902	346	651	2,801
Redick, J. J.J. J. Redick	G	Duke	2002	2006	139	825	457	662	2,769
Gathers, HankHank Gathers	F/C	Southern California / Loyola Marymount	1986	1990	117	1,127	0	469	2,723
Lewis, ReggieReggie Lewis	F	Northeastern	1983	1987	122	1,043	30	592	2,708
Queenan, DarenDaren Queenan	G/F	Lehigh	1984	1988	118	1,024	29	626	2,703
Larkin, ByronByron Larkin	G	Xavier	1984	1988	121	1,022	51	601	2,696
McCalebb, BoBo McCalebb	G	New Orleans	2003	2008	128	977	115	610	2,679
Robinson, DavidDavid Robinson*	C	Navy	1983	1987	127	1,032	1	604	2,669
Tisdale, WaymanWayman Tisdale	F/C	Oklahoma	1981	1985	104	1,077	—	507	2,661
Curry, StephenStephen Curry	G	Davidson	2006	2009	104	871	414	479	2,635

All-time conference scoring leaders

The following list contains current and defunct Division I conferences' all-time scoring leaders. The "conference founding" 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 (with basketball actually beginning in 2009–10). 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 Pacific-12 Conference, but when Keith Van Horn set the scoring record they were still a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

Tyler Hansbrough amassed an ACC-record 2,872 points at North Carolina.

Terry Dehere of Seton Hall holds the Big East record.

Bill Bradley, the Ivy League's all-time leading scorer, is also in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Conference	Conference founding	Conference disbanding	Player	School	Career start	Career end	Points	Ref.
America East	1979	—	Lewis, ReggieReggie Lewis	Northeastern	1983	1987	2,709
American South	1987	1991	Brooks, KevinKevin Brooks	Southwestern Louisiana	1987	1991	2,294
Atlantic 10	1976	—	Macon, MarkMark Macon	Temple	1987	1991	2,609
ACC	1953	—	Hansbrough, TylerTyler Hansbrough	North Carolina	2005	2009	2,872
Atlantic Sun	1978	—	Jackson, WillieWillie Jackson	Centenary	1980	1984	2,535
Big 12	1996	—	Dunn, LaceDariusLaceDarius Dunn	Baylor	2007	2011	2,285
Big East	1979	—	Dehere, TerryTerry Dehere	Seton Hall	1989	1993	2,494
Big Eight	1907	1996	Manning, DannyDanny Manning	Kansas	1984	1988	2,951
Big Sky	1963	—	Lightfoot, OrlandoOrlando Lightfoot	Idaho	1991	1994	2,201
Big South	1983	—	Williams, ReggieReggie Williams	VMI	2004	2008	2,556
Big Ten	1896	—	Cheaney, CalbertCalbert Cheaney	Indiana	1990	1993	2,613
Big West	1969	—	Harris, LuciousLucious Harris	Long Beach State	1989	1993	2,312
CAA	1982	—	Robinson, DavidDavid Robinson*	Navy	1983	1987	2,669
C-USA	1995	—	Jackson, StefonStefon Jackson	UTEP	2005	2009	2,456
East Coast	1958	1994	Queenan, DarenDaren Queenan	Lehigh	1984	1988	2,703
Great Midwest	1990	1995	Claggett, ErwinErwin Claggett	Saint Louis	1991	1995	1,910
Great West	2004	—	Flores, ChrisChris Flores	NJIT	2009	2013	1,726
Horizon	1979	—	Hughes, AlfredrickAlfredrick Hughes	Loyola (IL)	1981	1985	2,914
Ivy	1901	—	Bradley, BillBill Bradley*	Princeton	1962	1965	2,503
MAAC	1980	—	Simmons, LionelLionel Simmons	La Salle	1986	1990	3,217
Metro	1975	1995	Coles, BimboBimbo Coles	Virginia Tech	1986	1990	2,484
MAC	1946	—	Wells, BonziBonzi Wells	Ball State	1994	1998	2,485
MEAC	1970	—	Davis, TomTom Davis	Delaware State	1987	1991	2,275
Missouri Valley	1907	—	Hawkins, HerseyHersey Hawkins	Bradley	1984	1988	3,008
Mountain West	1999	—	Fredette, JimmerJimmer Fredette	BYU	2007	2011	2,599
NEC	1981	—	Bailey, TerranceTerrance Bailey	Wagner	1983	1987	2,591
OVC	1948	—	Domercant, HenryHenry Domercant	Eastern Illinois	1999	2003	2,602
Pac-12	1959	—	MacLean, DonDon MacLean	UCLA	1988	1992	2,608
Patriot	1986	—	McCollum, C. J.C. J. McCollum	Lehigh	2009	2013	2,361
SEC	1933	—	Maravich, PetePete Maravich*	LSU	1967	1970	3,667
Southern	1921	—	Curry, StephenStephen Curry	Davidson	2006	2009	2,635
Southland	1963	—	Dumars, JoeJoe Dumars*	McNeese State	1981	1985	2,607
Summit	1982	—	Green, CalebCaleb Green	Oral Roberts	2003	2007	2,504
Sun Belt	1976	—	McCalebb, BoBo McCalebb	New Orleans	2003	2008	2,679
Southwest	1914	1996	Rencher, TerrenceTerrence Rencher	Texas	1991	1995	2,306
SWAC	1920	—	Ford, AlphonsoAlphonso Ford	Mississippi Valley State	1989	1993	3,165
West Coast	1952	—	Gathers, HankHank Gathers	Loyola Marymount	1987	1990	2,490
WAC	1962	—	Van Horn, KeithKeith Van Horn	Utah	1993	1997	2,542

Footnotes

• ^a The Southland Conference recognizes Dwight "Bo" Lamar, who played at Southwestern Louisiana, now Louisiana–Lafayette, between 1968 and 1972, as their all-time conference scoring leader, using the criterion of points scored against conference opponents only. He scored 1,054 points in conference games. Additionally, Southwestern Louisiana did not join the Southland Conference until 1971, so all of Lamar's points prior to then do not count toward Southland Conference scoring. Joe Dumars, who is technically second on the list with 819 points, actually scored more career points than Lamar since McNeese State was a member of the Southland Conference for the duration of Dumars' career. The above conference scoring leaders list uses overall career totals, not conference-career totals, as its criterion.

References

General

• "2012–13 NCAA Men's Basketball Records" (PDF). 2012–13 NCAA Men's Basketball Media Guide. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013. 

Specific