Here in the 2024-2025 Men’s College Basketball regular season we have seen some historic individual performances: back to back triple double games, players recording 20+ rebounds, 20+ assists, even eighteen year old’s putting up forty pieces. We really have seen it all.
But today we’re going through the best of the best, eight prime examples of one player taking over a game in a special way. Whether it’s points, boards, steals or all of the above, here are the best men’s college basketball individual games of this season.
Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner Scores 49 in Season Opener
It would be a disrespect to not start off this list with Ryan Kalkbrenner’s monster performance in the Bluejays season opener. Kalkbrenner had a rocket hot start scoring Creighton’s first eight points, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
The second half was a perfect one for Ryan Kalkbrenner, he went 11-11 from the field and finished with a career high 49 points, the most points scored in college basketball this season. He also finished the game shooting a jaw dropping 20-22 from the field in the 99-86 win versus the Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros.
Kalkbrenner’s scoring that night was record breaking. The senior center now has the most points in UIC Health Center Omaha Arena and the second most points in school history.
Sean Smith of the Leathernecks Records Back-to-Back Triple Doubles
For this incredible feat we have to travel off the beaten path to the 8-14 Western Illinois Leathernecks, home of senior guard, Sean Smith. Smith’s historical streak is a gem in an otherwise abysmal season for the ball club but what a gem it is.
In the first week of December, 2024, Sean Smith recorded a triple double in back to back games, something that’s been done only a couple times in college basketball history and for the first time in the OC Conference.
Game 1: 24 Points(10-15 FG), 11 rebounds and 10 assists(W).
Game 2: 10 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists(W).
Cooper Flagg Delivers Versus Notre Dame Scoring 42 Points
If there was any question of Cooper Flagg’s brilliance on the court, it was surely stifled after he lit up Notre Dame with 42 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists on Jan. 11th, 2025. In that game he proved his versatility as as a scorer by hitting four three pointers and missing only three shots from the field.
This game marked a new ACC and Duke Blue Devil freshman scoring record and embarrassed the pedigree of Notre Dame college basketball spectacularly.
Denijay Harris Climbs The Beanstalk to Collect 23 Rebounds & 32 Points
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles have found a giant in Denijay Harris; Giant in stature and playmaking ability. Harris has two games with 20+ rebounds and 20+ points but the more notable one came on New Year’s Eve’s Eve versus WLCA.
The Golden Eagles would win that game 80-70 and Denijay Harris finished the game with 23 rebounds and 32 points- both career highs.
The only player to record more rebounds in a game this season is Baylor’s Norchad Omier who had 24.
Marshall’s Obinna Anochili-Killen Was One Block Away From a Triple Double
One of two players to record nine blocks in college basketball the past year: Obinna Anochili-Killen. In a recent game versus Georgia State he boasted the insane stat line of 23 points, 10 rebounds and 9 blocks, one short of recording his first triple double.
Nine blocks is news worthy if you’re in the NBA, let alone college ball. This was Anochili-Killen’s career high in blocks AND points- the locker room post game must have been a celebratory madness.
Cliff Davis Leads College Basketball With 14 Three Pointers in One Game
Remember those Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros that got trounced by Ryan Kalkbrenner? Well their star player, Cliff Davis had some offensive magic of his own a month later. Davis scored a program record 14 three pointers in a single game and finished with 42 points.
Amazingly, the only points Cliff Davis scored that night were from beyond the arc. No free throws or two pointers, only three pointers. He shot 14-26 from three and only attempted one traditional shot attempt, which he missed.
Twenty Assists for Louisiana Tech’s Sean Newman Breaks the School Record
On average, every other year one player in men’s college basketball records 20 assists. This season Sean Newman dished his way onto the record books, putting up 20 assists verses RUST at the end of 2024. Newman only scored seven points but had 2/3rds of his team’s total assists.
Sean Newman is second in the league in APG and has seven 10+ assist games this season.
Dylan Harper Secures Rutgers’s First Triple Double in Nearly 50 Years
Freshman Dylan Harper has been one of the brightest faces in college basketball this season despite Rutgers’s inadequate record. He’s had two games with 35+ points as well as the first triple double for the Scarlett Knights since 1983.
Harper finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists which helped defeat the Columbia Lions 91-64. Dylan and his teammate Ace Bailey, both of which are freshman, have been balling out this year and have multiple games that were on the brink of making this list.
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