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Here are Purdue basketball's top 10 career scorers – IndyStar
The amazing part of Purdue’s top career scorer’s list is that three of the top 10 — No. 1 Rick Mount, Dave Schellhase and Terry Dischinger — did it in three seasons. They all played in the 1960s, when freshmen weren’t eligible. Yet their per-game averages reveal their offensive dominance the moment they got on the court. Here are the Boilers’ top 10 career scorers in men’s basketball, with coverage from the IndyStar archives (Statistics from College Basketball Reference):
2,323 points from 1968-70
Mount’s scoring total is amazing on several levels. He played in an era in which freshmen weren’t eligible. He also played in an era in which only the conference champion made the NCAA tournament. (Of his three years, Purdue’s season ended with the regular season in two, and the Boilers made the 1969 Final Four.) And there weren’t any 3-pointers at the time, though he was shooting plenty from that range. His season scoring averages were 28.5, 33.3 and 35.4.
Contrasts in style: Mount scored a school-record 61 points in a 108-107 loss to Big Ten champ Iowa with one week left in the season. And he had scored 42 against Minnesota a few days before that. Gophers coach Bill Fitch decided to play stall ball in the season finale. Purdue still won 48-44 and Mount scored 22 points. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him,” Fitch said, “and I think the biggest compliment I can pay the Purdue team is to say we played the way we did because it was the only way we had a chance to win.”
2,175 points from 1977-80
He was a three-year starter who averaged double-doubles as a sophomore and junior, while leading the Boilermakers to the 1980 Final Four at Market Square Arena. He scored 35 points in his career finale, a victory over Iowa in the last Final Four consolation game.
This is how it works: Carroll explained how coach Lee Rose organized the team starting in his junior year: “He had an understanding with the other players. Give Joe the ball. Then my responsibility was to do something with it. It made it clear what our agenda was.”
2,136 points from 2008-11
He started 135 of his 140 games and raised his scoring average each season, topping out at 18 points as a senior. He scored in double figures in nine of his 10 NCAA tournament games.
It all comes together: Moore’s best game as a Boilermaker saw him score a career-high 38 points to push him over 2,000 for his career in a victory over then-No. 2 Ohio State. “For (Moore) personally, this was great, because he hasn’t gotten the kind of attention he deserves,” Boilers coach Matt Painter said. “He hasn’t had a lot of these kinds of games. He averaged 15 to 19 points, but he hasn’t had that big breakout game, and to do it on national TV and do it against the second-ranked team in the nation, that’s pretty special.” Moore’s assessment? “Ah, yeah, I think that was my best game.”
More:Here are IU basketball’s career scoring leaders
More:Here are Butler basketball’s top 10 career scorers
2,074 points from 1964-66
His averages in his three seasons were 24.5, 29.3 and 32.5, and his career rebounding average was 10.0. He scored at least 40 points in a game on seven occasions.
Maybe he saw Mount coming: Schellhase scored a school-record 57 points in a loss to Michigan in 1966. After hearing he had equaled an arena record in Ann Arbor, “I was just trying to get 50 because it seemed like just about everything was going in. Don’t worry, though, someone will break this record before long because that’s what records are for.”
2,038 points from 1985-88
He averaged 10.4 points off the bench as a freshman then averaged about 18 points per game each of this next three years. The 3-pointer was instituted in his junior season, and he hit 151 over his final two years.
He learned his lessons well: In a Sports Illustrated story from 1988, Lewis said he studied a “Red (Auerbach) on Roundball” feature when he was in grade school. “‘If you’re going to be a great shooter,’ Lewis can still recite, ‘you need good backspin on the ball, your elbow in and a good follow-through.'”
1,979 points from 1960-62
Before Schellhase and Mount, Dischinger was Purdue’s scoring machine. He averaged 26.3, 28.2 and 30.3 points per game, as well as 13.7 rebounds for his career. He had six games with at least 45 points, with a high of 52.
Long-term look: The chemical engineering major and future orthodontist played in the NBA, but since the pay wasn’t nearly the no-brainer sums it is today, he wasn’t certain whether he should pursue it. “It would take a darned good money offer to make me go with the pros,” he said as a senior. “I’d have to get enough money to be able to invest it and know I would be gaining future security.”
1,919 points from 2008-11
He entered the starting lineup for good as a sophomore and boosted his scoring average each season. He was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2011 after averaging career bests of 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots.
High praise: Here’s what coach Matt Painter said about Johnson and E’Twaun Moore on their senior day: “The thing that jumps out is how much they’ve grown up. They’ve had tough days, but they continued to get better, they never made excuses and they’ve been a pleasure to coach on and off the court.”
1,813 points from 1975-78
He was on the court from Day 1 and averaged at least 14 points per game all four of his seasons. He led the Boilers in scoring his final three years.
There was more to him than points: Jordan described his role early in his senior season. “My role is more important than just putting the ball through the hoop. I have to play defense well, I have to rebound, I have to be a leader on and off the floor. The points don’t matter. If Purdue wins, Walter Jordan is a winner.”
1,772 points from 2008-12
His place on this list would be a bit higher if he hadn’t suffered a knee injury late in his junior season. He was a regular from jump in West Lafayette, averaging at least 11.4 points every season.
Not Purdue’s first choice: Hummel wasn’t at the top of coach Matt Painter’s recruiting list. And Hummel understood. “I always appreciated his honesty because he didn’t offer me a scholarship the first time I visited campus,” Hummel said shortly before his last regular-season game. “He was very up-front and told me why he was going to offer it to somebody else. That guy happened to go to another school; he offered me the scholarship and I guess the rest is history.”
1,717 points from 1979-82
The three-year starter averaged 21.1 points as a senior. He averaged averaged 16.7 points in Purdue’s tournament run to the 1980 Final Four, including 23 in a national semifinal loss to UCLA.
Living the dream: As a Purdue senior, he recalled watching some of the game’s greats in Final Fours. “It was unbelievable,” he said, laughing. “When you’re young you look at the television and see Bill Walton or David Thompson in the Final Four. Then you look around and say ‘Goodness. Wait a minute. This is me!’ Writers ask you, ‘What do you think your team’s chances are for winning the national title,’ and you say to yourself ‘Goodness, I’m playing in the Final Four.”’