The start of the College Basketball season is right around the corner, and we wanted to take a look back at some of the historical statistics inside the conference. It now has 16 teams in the league. Let’s look at the all-time leading scorer for each team in the Big 12 before heading into the 2024-2025 season.
Each Big 12 Team’s All-Time Leading Scorers
Arizona State Sun Devils
The Sun Devils have had a pretty up-and-down history of men’s basketball. The one leader over those years was Eddie House. House played for four seasons and is the leading scorer by 60 points over Jeremy Veal. House played from 1996-2000. He went on to be a second-round draft pick and played in the NBA from 2000-2011. He won an NBA title in 2008 with the Boston Celtics.
Kansas State Wildcats
Jacob Pullen became the all-time leading scorer at Kansas State in 2011. He beat out Mike Evans by 17 points for the spot. Other guys who would have been considered if they had stayed for the four seasons would be Michael Beasley and Mitch Richmond, both of whom have nice careers in the NBA. Pullen, out of Maywood, Illinois was not drafted in the NBA, played several seasons overseas, and is still with Napoli currently.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
This is probably going to be a trivia question that is tough to get for anyone outside of Lubbock. The Red Raiders, who have been to one final four in school history, boast Andre Emmett as their all-time leading scorer. Emmett scored more than 2,250 points in his career from the 2000-2001 season through 2003-20024. Emmett did that in 128 games, which is far less than the record of 136 by Toddrick Gotcher.
Utah Utes
Many modern-day basketball fans know the legend of Keith Van Horn. The power forward out of Diamond Bar high school was great with Utah and had a nice NBA career. He was picked in the first round, and second overall by Philadelphia in the 1997 draft. Van Horn played in the league through the 2006 season. Van Horn has his 44 jersey retired at Utah. He wrapped up his college career more than 200 points ahead of the second-highest, Billy McGill. Van Horn finished with 2,542 points.
Houston Cougars
There have been some good basketball players through the years at Houston. No one has been better than Elvin Hayes. Hayes has just three seasons under his belt at Houston, but was incredible, averaging over 900 points per season. Hayes finished his career with more than 2,880 points from 1965-1968. He is just 52 points ahead of Otis Birdsong, who was with the Cougars from 1973-1977.
Cincinnati Bearcats
The Big O, Oscar Robertson is the all-time leading scorer at Cincinnati. During the 1959-1960 season, Robertson scored 1,0111 points. In the other two seasons he had 984 and 978. He is more than 800 points ahead of Sean Kilpatrick, who is second on the list. Robertson also scored 62 points in a single game against North Texas back in that 1959-1960 season.
Central Florida Golden Knights
Bo Clark, who played with the Golden Knights from 1975-1980 is the leading scorer for the Central Florida Golden Knights. He scored 806 in his second season with Central Florida. During the 1976-1077 season Clark scored 70 points against Florida Memorial. He also had 51 and 49 in a single game as well.
Brigham Young Cougars
Many think Jimmer Fredette would be the leading scorer at Brigham Young, but his teammate Tyler Haws actually took that spot over in his final season. Haws scored more than 2,700 points, while Fredette was just shy of 2,600. Fredette is the season leader, scoring 1,068 during the 2010-2011 season. Haws never had a season with more than 780 in a season. Haws did have 48 points in a game against Portland back during the 2013-2014 season.
West Virginia Mountaineers
He is the NBA logo. Jerry West is the all-time leading scorer at West Virginia. West played with the Mountaineers for three seasons. He had 708, 903, and 908 points in his career with 2,309 in total. He finished ahead of Rod Hundley, who played just before West time. West scored 44 in a game during the 1958-1959 season, but that is 8th on the single-game list for West Virginia basketball.
Baylor Bears
It has been an interesting history for the Baylor Bears in Men’s Basketball. LaceDarius Dunn is the all-time leading scorer. He played from 2007-2011 and scored just shy of 2,300 points Terry Teagle is the only other Baylor Bear player with more than 2,000 career points. Dunn scored 705 during his junior season, which was the most in a season for him. Dunn also is tied for second with 43 points in a game behind Vinnie Johnson, who scored 50 against TCU.
Arizona Wildcats
There has been lots of really good basketball at the University of Arizona. The leading scorer is Sean Elliott. He is more than 400 points ahead of Bob Elliott. Sean played from 195-1989 and scored 2,555 points in his career. He also is second behind Khalid Reeves for points in a single season with 743. Elliott went on to have a really productive career in the NBA.
TCU Horned Frogs
The TCU Horned Frogs do not have a single player in school history with 2,000 or more points in a career. Darrell Browder is the leader at 1,886, and just ahead of Corey Santee and Desmond Bane. Bane is currently with the Memphis Grizzlies. Lee Nailon leads the single-season record for TCU with 796, while he also holds the record with 53 in a single game. Browder did not have a single season with more than 600 points in a single season, but his four seasons were all impressive.
Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado has two guys that are tied at the top of the scoring list. Cory Higgins, who played from 2007-2011, and Richard Roby (2004-2008) both scored 2001 points in their career. Donnie Boyce was the leader before those two came in, and he scored 1995 points. Neither Higgins nor Roby are in the top five in single-season points, as Alec Burks leads that with 779 in his career.
Kansas Jayhawks
All the talent that has come through Lawrence, and the record book sits with Danny Manning. Danny and the miracles were the talk of the NCAA Tournament. He scored 49 points shy of 3,000 in his career. Manning played with Kansas from 1984-1998. Manning scored 942 in his final season in Lawrence. He is ahead of Nick Collison and Raef LaFrentz, who both are over 2,000 in their career. Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for points in a game, with 52.
Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State has three guys who have scored more than 2,000 in their career. Jeff Grayer is at the top of the list with 2,502. Georges Niang is second with 2,228 and Barry Stevens is third with 2,190. Fred Hoiberg came up 7 points short during his time. Marcus Fizer leads with the most points in a single season with 844. Grayer played from 1984-1998 and scored 811 in his final season in Ames.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Many basketball fans remember Big Country, Bryant Reeves. He is second in Oklahoma State basketball history. He scored 2,367 points. Byron Houston was just ahead of him, by 12 points. Houston played from 1988-1992, while Reeves was in Stillwater from 1991-1995. Reeves holds the record for 797 points in a single season, while Bob Kurland leads with 58 points in a single game.
With the NBA and guys leaving programs in the transfer portal, there is less of a chance in college basketball now to see all-time leading scorers change at big programs like the Big 12 has. What player has the best chance to break one of those records in the 2024-2025 season?
