In basketball, an assist is a pass to a teammate that directly leads to a score by field goal. [1] The National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I assist title is awarded to the player with the highest assists per game average in a given season. The assist title was first recognized in the 1950–51 season when statistics on assists were first compiled by the NCAA, but there are no officially recorded assist leaders between 1952–53 and 1982–83. The NCAA did not split into its current divisions format until August 1973. [2] From 1906 to 1955, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). [2] Then, from 1956 to 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)". [2]
Avery Johnson of Southern University holds the all-time NCAA Division I record for single season assists per game (apg) average (13.30), which he accomplished in 1987–88. [3] He also recorded 399 assists that season, which is the second highest single season mark behind UNLV's Mark Wade's record of 406, which occurred in 1986–87. [4] From 1952–53 to 1982–83, the official NCAA record book has no assists per game leaders. [4] Oklahoma freshman Trae Young was the first player to lead the NCAA in both assists and points in the 2017–18 season, while Murray State sophomore Ja Morant was the first player in NCAA history to average at least 20 points and 10 assists throughout the same season in the 2018–19 season.
Four players have earned multiple assist titles: Avery Johnson of Southern (1987, 1988), Jared Jordan of Marist (2006, 2007), Jason Brickman of LIU Brooklyn (2013, 2014), and Yuri Collins of Saint Louis. [5] [6] There has been one tie for the national assists leader, which happened during the 2004–05 season when Damitrius Coleman of Mercer and Will Funn of Portland State recorded identical season statistics: 28 games played, 224 total assists and an 8.00 apg average. [7]
Only three freshmen (T. J. Ford, Lonzo Ball, and Trae Young) and two sophomores (Jason Kidd and Ja Morant) have led Division I in average assists. [4] [8] [9] Two players born outside the United States have led Division I in assists — 1995–96 leader Raimonds Miglinieks of UC Irvine, born in modern-day Latvia (the Latvian SSR of the Soviet Union at the time of his birth), and 1999–2000 leader Mark Dickel of UNLV, born in New Zealand.
|
|
Except as specifically noted, all teams are listed with their current athletic brand names, which do not always reflect those used by a given program in a specific season.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 13 full members are located in five Northeastern states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.
Avery DeWitt Johnson is an American basketball television commentator and former player and coach who most recently served as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team. He is currently an NBA and college basketball analyst for CBS Sports.
In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term refers to the two (double) categories and the second "double" refers to accumulating ten or more in that category. Similarly, a player records a triple-double, quadruple-double, and quintuple-double when accumulating ten or more in three, four, or all five of the statistical categories, respectively. While double-doubles and triple-doubles occur regularly each NBA season, only four quadruple-doubles have ever officially been recorded in the NBA, and no quintuple-double has ever been recorded in a professional basketball game. A similar term, the five-by-five, is the accumulation of at least five in all five statistical categories. It is rarely done.
Jason Alexander Brickman is a Filipino-American basketball player for the Kaohsiung Aquas of the T1 League. He completed his college career for the Long Island University Blackbirds after the 2013–14 season. Brickman was considered one of the best passers in the nation according to ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. Of Brickman, Bilas said "He really understands angles very well. He gets the ball to (LIU's) best players, and he does a really nice job of managing the game. An excellent passer." Brickman led NCAA Division I in assists per game as a junior with an 8.52 average, then repeated in 2013–14 with a 10.00 per game average. He is one of only four players in Division I history to record 1,000 assists.
Juan'ya Green is an American basketball player, most recently as a member of Al Sadd in the Qatari Basketball League. He completed his college career in 2016 after having split his career playing for Niagara University and Hofstra University. Green went unselected in the ensuing 2016 NBA draft.
Rayford Trae Young is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners. In 2017, he tied the then-record in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I single-game assists with 22. Young became the only player to ever lead the NCAA in both points and assists in a single season. Nicknamed "Ice Trae", he was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2018 NBA draft with the fifth pick, and later traded to the Atlanta Hawks, along with a future first-round pick, for the draft rights to Luka Dončić. He joined Dončić in a unanimous selection to the 2019 NBA All-Rookie First Team. He is a three-time NBA All-Star, and has led the Hawks to three playoff runs, including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021.
Temetrius Jamel "Ja" Morant is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Murray State Racers, where he was a consensus first-team All-American as a sophomore in 2019.