The 11 Players With The Most Points In A Final Four Game

The college basketball teams that make it to the Final Four only need two wins to walk away with a national championship. Some players might have trouble dealing with that kind of pressure, but there are plenty of guys who thrive when tasked with stepping up when it matters most.

It’s been more than 85 years since what was technically the first Final Four was played during an inaugural NCAA Tournament that only featured eight teams (the term wasn’t officially adopted by the organization until the 1980s), and we’ve seen plenty of players have one of the best games—if not the best—game of their life during those do-or-die showdowns.

There’s no better time to get a hot hand than during the Final Four, and the guys on this list risked third-degree burns based on the scorching nature of the most impressive performances on that particular stage.

Bill Bradley: 58

Prior to 1982, the NCAA Tournament featured a third-place game between the two teams that lost in the first round of the Final Four, and I’m taking those contests into consideration even though some people might not give too much credence to showdowns that didn’t really have any major implications.

The Final Four points crown is currently held by Bill Bradley, the Princeton star and future United States senator who had to settle for the consolation game after the Tigers lost to Michigan in the Final Four in 1965.

His squad ended up rolling to a 118-82 victory over Wichita State, thanks in no small part to the record-setting 58 points he posted (which remained the all-time record for any March Madness game until Notre Dame’s Austin Carr scored 61 against Ohio in 1970).

Hal Lear: 48

Hal Lear only played in the NCAA Tournament a single time during his three-year run at Temple, but he took full advantage of the moment; the 160 he scored during his team’s March Madness run in 1956 is tied for the fifth-highest any player has put up in a single tournament (Bradley is second on the list with the 177 he had).

As was the case with Bradley, Lear also padded his stats with the help of the consolation game Temple played after losing to Iowa in the Final Four; the guard led the Owls to a 90-81 victory over SMU on the back of his 48 points.

Bill Walton: 44

The late, great Bill Walton is one of the greatest college basketball players of all time and was a key reason UCLA won two national championships at the end of the unrivaled dynasty John Wooden kicked off in the 1960s.

He got his second title as a junior in 1973 when the Bears earned the right to face off against Memphis in the national championship before earning an 87-66 victory on the back of the 44 points Walton had—the most a player has ever scored in the contest for all the marbles.

Bob Houbregs: 42

We’ve got yet another entry in the consolation game canon courtesy of Bob Houbregs, who played college basketball so long ago I could only find a photo of him during his time in the NBA.

Houbregs experienced March Madness two times during his time at Washington, and he made the most of the last game of his college basketball career in 1953.

The Huskies were matched up against Louisiana State after losing to Kansas in the Final Four, and the center who had previously scored 45 points in the first round almost matched that total with 42 in an 88-69 win.

Gail Goodrich: 42

We’ve also got another key member of the aforementioned UCLA dynasty, who was a junior when the team won its first-ever national championship (and the first of back-to-back titles) in 1964.

He was a force to be reckoned with during their run in 1965, as he averaged 35 points in the four games that led to UCLA securing the trophy with a 91-80 win against Michigan where he had 42 points.

Jack Givens: 41

Jack Givens ended up in double-digits during the four games Kentucky won to earn the right to face off against Duke in the national championship in 1978, which included a 23-point performance against Arkansas in the Final Four.

However, the forward exploded with the title on the line, as he had 44 points in a game where the Wildcats cut down the nets with a 94-88 victory over the Blue Devils.

Oscar Robertson: 39

Oscar Robertson led Cincinnati to the NCAA Tournament all three years he was a member of their varsity squad, and the 324 points he racked up is good for fifth on the all-time list of the guys who’ve scored the most across multiple March Madness appearances.

Robertson and the Bearcats also had to settle for the third-place game after losing to Cal in 1959, but he ended his college career—and the tourney—on a high note with a 98-85 win over Louisville where he scored 39 points.

Al Wood: 39

Al Wood made it to The Big Dance during all four of the seasons he played at North Carolina, which finally got over the hump during his senior year in 1981 after being eliminated in the first round three consecutive times.

The Tar Heels ended up facing off against Virginia in the Final Four and advanced to the national championship with a 78-65 win as Woods scored 39 points.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to repeat that performance and was limited to 18 in a 63-50 loss to Indiana in the title game.

Jerry West: 38

There are three guys who’ve scored 38 points in a Final Four game, and we’ll kick things off with the most notable member of that trio: Jerry West.

West Virginia was eliminated in the first round when West got his first taste of March Madness in 1958, but they also bounced back in a big way with a run to the national championship game.

The legendary guard helped them get there with 38 points in a 94-79 win over Louisville in the Final Four, and while he also had 28 against Cal in the title game, the Mountaineers fell painfully short with a 71-70 loss.

Jerry Chambers: 38

There are actually two guys named Jerry who’ve scored exactly 38 points in a Final Four game, as Jerry Chambers joined the club seven years after West became its inaugural member.

Chambers only played for two seasons at Utah before heading to the NBA, and his lone NCAA Tournament experience came during his second college campaign in 1966.

Chambers did what he could to help Utah make it to the national championship by scoring 38 points against Texas Western in the first game of the Final Four, but it wasn’t enough to lead them to victory in a game they lost by a score of 85-78.

Freddie Banks: 38

Freddie Banks is the only player on this list who played college basketball after the three-point line was introduced, and he capitalized on the innovation the NCAA officially adopted at the start of the season that saw UNLV make a run to the Final Four in 1987.

Banks scored 30 of his 38 points from behind the arc by hitting 10 of the 19 shots he attempted from long range, but Duke was ultimately able to sneak out a 79-77 victory despite the guard’s best efforts.