Grinnell College's Jack Taylor scores NCAA record 138 points
by Tommy Birch, USA TODAY Sports
Jack Taylor thought his cold shooting streak from the weekend was spilling over into the week.
Turns out, Taylor was just about to heat up.
The Grinnell sophomore guard scored an NCAA-record 138 points during the Pioneers' 179-104 win against Faith Baptist Bible College on Tuesday night.
"I don't think reality has really set in yet," Taylor said after the game. "I think it definitely will in the next few days. I can't really get my mind around it right now."
Taylor, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound guard from Black River Falls, Wisconsin, shot 52-of-108 from the field, 27-of-71 from 3-point range, and 7-of-10 from the free-throw line to finish with the historic, head-shaking line of 138 points.
The 138 points passed Clarence "Bevo" Francis who held both the NCAA and collegiate scoring mark when he dropped 113 points vs. Hillside in 1954.
"It's kind of a life-changing moment," Grinnell coach David Arseneault said.
Things didn't start off so hot for Taylor who missed his first four shots of the game and began worrying his struggles from a weekend tournament had carried over into Tuesday's tussle.
During the weekend, Taylor combined to shoot just 11-of-41 from the field in a pair of Grinnell games.
"The coaches and my teammates wanted to get me going tonight," Taylor said.
Once he got going, Taylor never really stopped scoring 58 points in the first half.
Taylor, who said his previous high was 48 during a high school game, didn't realize how many points he had at the half until Arsenault walked in with the stat sheet at halftime.
"I thought I had around 30 points," Taylor said. "And (then) coach came in and said I had 58. That started to make me realize that it could be a special night."
Things really began to sink in during the second half when fans began chanting Taylor's name in the closing minutes.
"I figured I probably had a lot of points at that time," he said.
Arseneault, now in his 24th year at Grinnell, has started a scoring revolution with a system of rapid movement, 3-pointer free-for-alls, and substitutions swiftly moving into the game like hockey line shifts.
In 2011, Grinnell's Griffin Lentsch set an NCAA Division III single-game scoring record with 89 points in a game against Principia.
The center of attention on Tuesday was getting Taylor, who finished with three rebounds in 36 minutes, back on track. He eventually did.
"He could have thrown it up with one hand and it would have gone it by the end of the game," Arseneault said.
By the end of the night, Taylor was the center of attention, not just in Iowa, but throughout country.
"I am very exhausted," Taylor said.
Here's Taylor's full bio on the school site.