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Who's Scored the Most Points in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament?

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Published Mar 26, 2024

We figured that since we're all in the throes of "March Madness"—the annual NCAA Division 1 men's college basketball tournament that has crowned a champion every year since 1939 (with the exception of 2020), now was a good time to tell you what players have scored the most career points in this annual hoop extravaganza.

Throughout much of the 1990's and the 2000s up until now, many great college players turned pro after one or two seasons, which means that they didn't accumulate a ton of points in college (ie, Carmelo Anthony, a one-year sensation for 2003 champs Syracuse). That trend is actually changing lately due to the ability for college athletes to get paid via NIL Deals, but not fast enough that a "modern" player is entering this list just quite yet.

So behold our "super seven," the seven men's players with the most career points in the NCAA Tournament. And don't be shocked if a few of them look familiar from another list we published recently...

All stats via NCAA.com.

7. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor), 304 points

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Number seven on our list is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a schoolboy legend in New York City who was born Lew Alcindor and had that name throughout his college career, which lasted from 1967-1969 at UCLA. What type of player was this all-time winner and legend? Check our list of the greatest cbb players in history...

6. Glen Rice, 308 points

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A four-year player at the University of Michigan, the sweet-shooting Rice scored his largest chunk of points as a senior, when he led the third-seeded Wolverines on an improbable run to the 1989 National Championship, the only one the storied program has ever won.

5. Oscar Robertson, 324 points

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"The Big O" was a point-scoring machine during his three seasons at the University of Cincinnati (1957-1960), including 56 points (the third-most ever in an NCAA Tourney game) vs. Arkansas in 1958.

4. Tyler Hansbrough, 325 points

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The only player from the 2000s on this list, "Psycho T" was a rugged power forward who started for four years at national power North Carolina. Hansbrough and his Heels played multiple tournament games all four of his seasons, capped off by a run to the title in his senior year of 2009.

3. Danny Manning, 328 points

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Another four-year stud who played multiple tourney games, Manning was a gifted, versatile forward who starred for the University of Kansas from 1984-1988, capped off by a National Championship in his last season. Knee injuries limited Manning's excellence as a pro, but watch some film of him at KU to see the greatness.

2. Elvin Hayes, 358 points

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The "Big E" was an electric scorer who did his damage at the University of Houston between 1965-1968 during his sophomore-senior seasons (freshmen couldn't play varsity basketball back then!). The Cougars—again amongst the top teams in the country these days—lost in the national semifinals to UCLA in Hayes' last two seasons.

1. Christian Laettner, 407 points

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Former Duke University great Christian Laettner is the king of this list, and it's not even that close. Laettner's march to the top of this list happened by combining all the ways one could do it: he was a great scorer (17 ppg for his career), he played a long time (148 total games over his four-year career in Durham) and his team won a ton (Duke made the Final Four every year Laettner played and took back-to-back National Championships his last two), so he had a whopping 22 tourney games in which to compile his point total. Shaq may have beaten out his Duke rival to be the "first pick, word is born'in," but on this list, Christian Laettner is number one.

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