NAIA PLAYER SCORES 100 POINTS IN A GAME
Wayland Baptist’s J.J. Culver, whose brother is an NBA rookie, accounted for all but 24 of his team’s points in a 124-60 victory Tuesday night.
A matchup Tuesday between Wayland Baptist University and Southwest Adventist University turned into the game of the century. That’s because a player in the game scored 100 points all by himself.
The triple-digit outburst was delivered by J.J. Culver, an older brother of Jarrett Culver, the Minnesota Timberwolves rookie and sixth overall NBA draft pick who led Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA final, which it lost in overtime to Virginia.
J.J. Culver’s feat came in an NAIA game as he hit 34 of 62 shots, including 12 of 33 from 3-point range, and made 20 of 27 free throws.
Culver, a 6-foot-5 senior guard for Wayland Baptist, located in Plainview, Texas, accounted for all but 24 of his team’s points in the Pioneers’ 124-60 win. Culver’s total was the second-highest in NAIA history, behind only the 113 scored by Clarence “Bevo” Francis of Rio Grande (Ohio) against Hillsdale (Mich.) in 1954.
“We always script our first couple of plays, and J.J. scored on the first three or four. The guys realized he was hot and kept going to him,” Wayland coach Ty Harrelson told wbuathletics.com. “We figured as long as he’s taking good shots, and shots out of our philosophy, that he had a chance to do something special tonight.”
The NCAA single-game record for most points by one player is 138, scored by Jack Taylor of Division III Grinnell (Iowa) in 2012. An NCAA Division I player, Frank Selvy of Furman, scored 100 points against Newberry in 1954, while the record for most points against a Division I program was set in 1991 when U.S. International’s Kevin Bradshaw dropped 72 on Loyola Marymount.
Culver, who added nine rebounds, five steals and two blocks on Tuesday, boosted his scoring average from an NAIA-leading 28.1 points per game to 36.1. He was an NAIA first-team All-American last season and the Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
On Tuesday, Culver had 51 at halftime, topping his previous single-game high this season by 10 points.