The 10 Players Who Scored The Most Points In March Madness History During Their College Career

Every college basketball player dreams of getting the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, and while most guys will never check that box, there are plenty of others who not only managed to do so but got a taste of March Madness multiple times—including the ones who racked up more points in the tourney than anyone else.

March Madness has served as a proving ground for many college basketball players who’ve found themselves thrust into the spotlight after rising to the occasion on the game’s biggest stage, and there’s obviously no better way to do that than scoring a whole bunch of points.

I’ve previously written about the guys who lead the pack when it comes to the most points scored in a single NCAA Tournament, but here’s a look at the players who’ve managed to set themselves apart thanks to their performance across multiple years.

Christian Laettner: 407

Christian Laettner played for Duke during one of the most impressive runs in NCAA Tournament history, as the Blue Devils made the Final Four during his freshman season in 1989, lost to UNLV in the national championship the following year, and got revenge by winning back-to-back titles with the help of his iconic buzzer beater against Kentucky in the Elite Eight his senior year.

Laettner played in a grand total of 23 March Madness games and averaged 17.7 points in each of those contests while becoming the first (and only) guy to score than 400 points across multiple tournaments; the 31 points he scored in the aforementioned showtime with the Wildcats marked his peak.

Elvin Hayes: 358

There are a few guys who earned a spot on this list with the help of the most impressive performance in a single NCAA Tournament, and Elvin Hayes is the first one to make an appearance.

Hayes had 167 points when Houston competed in The Big Dance in 1968, which put him firmly in possession of the overall first-place record at the time after notching 63 during his freshman season in 1966 and 128 during his sophomore campaign.

The eventual Hall of Famer averaged a wildly impressive 27.5 points per game and boosted his numbers with a 49-point showing in the opening round of his final March Madness run.

Danny Manning: 328

Danny Manning reaped the benefits of being on a Kansas team that made it to March Madness all four years during his time with the Jayhawks, and he was a major reason his college career ended with a win in the national championship game against Oklahoma in 1988.

Manning averaged 20.5 points in the 16 NCAA Tournament games he appeared in. The 42 he scored during the second round in 1987 was his highest total, but he also clinched a spot on the list of leaders for individual tourneys by scoring at least 24 points in the six games Kansas won to get the title.

Tyler Hansbrough: 325

Christian Laettner isn’t the only Widely Reviled Dude Who Played For A Blue Blood Based In North Carolina on this list, as Tyler Hansbrough also fits that particular bill.

Hansbrough’s freshman year ended with the Tar Heels being eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the second round, but he was a major reason they steadily improved with runs to the Elite Eight and Final Four before beating Michigan State in the title showdown in 2009.

The big man averaged 24.9 points per game across 17 contests, and the 33 he had against Michigan State during his sophomore year in 2007 was the high-water mark.

Oscar Robertson: 324

Oscar Robertson is one of the best players in the history of the NBA, and he picked up where he left off after bursting onto the scene during his time at Cincinnati.

The Bearcats had never made it to the NCAA Tournament prior to his first season, and they followed up that Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1958 with two consecutive runs to the Final Four.

Robertson played in ten March Madness games during that span while averaging 32.4 points. He went off against a number of teams but never topped the 56 he scored against Arkansas in 1958—a loss where he was responsible for all but six of the points Cincinnati scored.

Glen Rice: 308

We’ve got our third appearance from a player who dominated a single March Madness tournament thanks to the 184 points Glen Rice scored while leading Michigan to a title in 1989 (which remains the record to beat), but that certainly wasn’t a fluke.

That marked the fourth time Rice competed in the NCAA Tournament as a member of the Wolverines, as he had a total of 16 and 43 points in two appearances that ended with a second-round exit before adding 65 during a Sweet Sixteen run in 1988.

He averaged 23.6 points in his 13 March Madness games and maxed out at 39 against Florida during his junior year.

Lew Alcindor (a.k.a. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar): 304

NCAA rules prevented freshman from playing varsity basketball until 1972, and the man most people known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of a few guys on this list that probably would have ended up higher if that hadn’t been the case.

UCLA won eight national championships in the span of nine years starting in 1964, and the 1966 season was the only time they failed to make the tournament during that span thanks in no small part in their inability to harness the talents of the player who was known as Lew Alcindor at the time.

The legendary big man averaged 25.3 points in the 12 games he played during the trio of title runs that began in 1967, and the 38 he scored in the second game of the first one ended up being his highest total.

Bill Bradley: 303

Bill Bradley is the last guy on this list who scored the bulk of his career points in a single tournament, as 177 of his 303 came during Princeton’s Cinderella run to the Final Four in 1965.

The Tigers star appeared in nine March Madness games while averaging 33.6 points—the highest of anyone on this list.

He also benefited from the third-place consolation game that was eliminated after it was played for the last time in 1981, as the 58 points he scored against Wichita State in his final college game was the most he had in March Madness.

Corliss Williamson: 303

Arkansas made the NCAA Tournament three times when Corliss Williamson was a Razorback, and he was the biggest reason they won a national championship in 1994 before coming painfully close to another one the following year only to fall to UCLA in the title game.

Williamson was on the floor for 15 March Madness games and averaged 20.2 points by the time he played his final one; he reached his apex with the 29 he scored against Arizona in the Final Four before the Hogs beat Duke to win the championship.

Drew Timme: 301

Mark Few transformed Gonzaga into a WCC powerhouse after taking over in 1999, and Drew Timme is one of the most notable names to play for the Bulldogs more than 25 years after they rose to prominence.

Timme was denied the chance to pad his stats even more due to the NCAA’s decision to cancel the tournament in 2020, but he still did pretty well for himself in the 13 March Madness games he played in while averaging 23.2 points; the 36 he had against UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen during his senior year in 2023 was the pinnacle of his postseason career.