TROY, Ala. — Records are made to be broken. Well, most of them are. For the Troy University Trojans, one sports record is likely safe for a very long time.
25 years ago this week, Troy men’s basketball scored 258 points in a single game. Yes, you read that correctly. 258 points.
Back in 1992, the then Troy State men’s basketball team competed at the Division II level with significant success. In the previous season, the Trojans advanced to the second round of the DII tournament, after having advanced to the Elite Eight in 1988. The following year, the team would make it all the way to the National Championship game, only to lose a heart-breaker to Cal State-Bakersfield.
But on one night during the ’92 season, the Trojans stood atop the pinnacle of college basketball. In a game against the DeVry Institute of Technology, they scored an incredible 258 points, winning by a score of 258-141. To this day, the amount scored by the Trojans stands as the NCAA record for most in a single game.
College basketball games consist of two twenty minute halves. To put the scoring in perspective, Troy’s total equates to 6.5 points per minute, or about a point every ten seconds. The total is also roughly four times the average number of points scored by teams across the NCAA as of 2016.
Ten of Troy’s 11 players finished the game with double-digit point totals. The team was up 123–53 by halftime, and the players nailed 21 three-point baskets in only 20 minutes. They also shot and impressive 54.7 percent from the field with a final total of 51 for 109 from three-point range.
The high number of attempted shots was a part of the Trojans’ innovative Run and Shoot offense that emphasized volume production. “This is the best kind of style,” Troy’s leading scorer Terry McCord said to the Los Angeles Times. “You have a lot of freedom, you don’t have to worry about a lot of plays being run. You shoot whenever you think you’ve got a shot.”
According to a report from USA Today Sports, scoring has been historically low in the NCAA the past few years. In 2013, teams averaged the fewest points per game in any season since 1952. So, Troy’s record may be safer than ever.
Since then, no team has come even remotely close to breaking the record. The closest attempt came back in 2006, when Division III Lincoln (Penn.) scored 201 against Ohio State-Marion.
Members of the ’92 team were fairly confident that their name is not leaving the record books anytime soon. “I’m pretty sure that’s gonna be safe for a long time – dare I say another 25 years?” McCord said to the Dothan Eagle. “Not in our lifetime,” said Don Maestri, Troy’s head coach that year.
For fans looking to get the full experience of the throwback shootout, the entire game has been uploaded onto YouTube and can be seen below.
