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In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throws and field goals. In National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I basketball, 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 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 (IAAUS). Then, from 1956 to spring 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)".

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. Still later, the NCAA moved the men's three-point line to for the main arc and in the corners, matching the distance used by the sport's international governing body of FIBA. This last move was implemented in two phases, with Division I adopting the new line in 2019–20 and Divisions II and III doing so in 2020–21. Women's basketball did not adopt the FIBA arc until 2021–22.

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 (sat out) his freshman year, and therefore, like Maravich, Robertson, and Hayes, his totals were also achieved in only three seasons. 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.

Four players on this top 25 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 as a player ‡ C Denotes the number of times a player from that team appears on the list

Top 25 career scoring leaders

Player Pos. Team(s) Careerstart Careerend Gamesplayed Field goalsmade 3-point field goals made Free throws made Points PPGRef. * G LSU 1967 1970 83 1,387 893 3,667 44.2 C G Detroit Mercy 2018 2023 144 1,219 588 638 3,664 25.4 F/G Portland State 1974 1978 106 1,369 511 3,249 30.7 G Campbell 2015 2019 130 1,024 444 733 3,225 24.8 F La Salle 1986 1990 131 1,244 56 673 3,217 24.6 G Mississippi Valley State 1989 1993 109 1,121 333 590 3,165 29.0 F Creighton 2010 2014 145 1,141 274 594 3,150 21.7 C G Oral Roberts /Texas 2019 2024 157 1,035 512 549 3,131 19.9 F South Dakota State 2015 2019 137 1,005 271 786 3,067 22.4 F Texas Southern 1979 1983 110 1,234 598 3,066 27.9 G Saint Peter's 2002 2006 118 967 435 689 3,058 25.9 G Bradley 1984 1988 125 1,100 118 690 3,008 25.5 * G Cincinnati 1957 1960 88 1,052 869 2,973 33.8 F Kansas 1984 1988 147 1,216 10 509 2,951 20.1 G Loyola Chicago 1981 1985 120 1,226 462 2,914 24.3 * C/F Houston 1965 1968 93 1,215 454 2,884 31.0 F North Carolina 2005 2009 142 939 12 982 2,87220.2 * F Indiana State 1976 1979 94 1,154 542 2,850 30.3 C G Ohio /Alabama 2020 2025 170 870 326 773 2,839 16.7 G Houston (2) 1973 1977 116 1,176 480 2,832 24.4 G Bethune–Cookman / U.S. International 1987 1991 111 1,027 132 618 2,804 25.3 G/F Tennessee 1989 1993 128 902 346 651 2,801 21.9 C C Michigan /Kansas (2) 2020 2025 161 1,132 84 452 2,800 17.4 G Duke 2002 2006 139 825 457 662 2,769 19.9 C G North Carolina (2) /Arizona 2020 2025 174 922 390 528 2,762 15.9

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 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 Big 12 Conference, but when Keith Van Horn set the scoring record it was still a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Similarly, BYU is also a current Big 12 member, but the career of its scoring leader Jimmer Fredette coincided with the program's last four seasons in the Mountain West Conference.

ConferenceConferencefoundedConferencedisbandedPlayerSchoolCareerstartCareerendPointsRef.ACC1953—North Carolina200520092,872America East1979—Northeastern198319872,709American2013— C SMU / Memphis 2019 2023 2,059 American South19871991Southwestern Louisiana198719912,294American West19931996Southern Utah19941996644 ASUN 1978 — C Liberty 2018 2023 2,685 Atlantic 101976—Temple198719912,609Big 121996—Oklahoma201220162,291Big East1979—Marquette201620202,761Big Eight19071996Kansas198419882,951pg. 598Big Sky1963—Montana State201520192,518Big South1983—Campbell201520193,225Big Ten1896—Indiana198919932,613Big West1969—Long Beach State198919932,312CAA1982— *Navy198319872,669Conference USA1995—Marshall201520192,636East Coast19581994Lehigh198419882,703Great Midwest19901995Saint Louis199119951,910Great West20042013NJIT200920131,726 Horizon 1979— C Detroit Mercy 2018 2023 3,664 Ivy1901— *Princeton196219652,503MAAC1980—La Salle198619903,217Metro19751995Virginia Tech198619902,484pg. 599MAC1946—Ball State199419982,485MEAC1970—Howard201620202,404Missouri Valley1907—Bradley198419883,008Mountain West1999—BYU200720112,599NEC1981—Wagner198319872,591OVC1948—Eastern Illinois199920032,602Pac-121959—UCLA198819922,608Pacific Coast 19151959 *Washington195019531,774Patriot1986—Lehigh200920132,361SEC1933— *LSU196719703,667Southern1921—Davidson200620092,635Southland1963— *McNeese198119852,607Summit1982—South Dakota State201520193,067Sun Belt1976—New Orleans200320082,679SWC19141996Texas199119952,306pg. 600SWAC1920—Mississippi Valley State198919933,165West Coast1952—Loyola Marymount198719902,490WAC1962—Utah199319972,542

All-time schools' scoring leaders

These schools are full, current members of NCAA Division I, meaning they have finished the process of joining Division I or its historical equivalent. Some of the records below were set while the school was still in a lower division and are not intended to be solely Division I era scoring records; if no season-specific link exists, it is because the record was set while the school was a member of a lower division. Through 2024–25, the oldest school record is held by Jim Lacy at Loyola of Maryland, whose 2,199 points were last scored in 1949. The newest record holder, meanwhile, is Bruce Thornton of Ohio State, who set his record on March 7, 2026 in a game against Indiana. Lipscomb's John Pierce holds college basketball's all-time, all-divisions scoring mark of 4,230 points. He played from 1990 to 1994 while the Bisons were still a member of the NAIA.

All schools are listed with their current athletic brand names, which do not necessarily match those used when a school's scoring leader was active.