Iowan scores 138 points in 179-104 game
An Iowa college basketball player is getting nationwide attention after scoring 138 points during a game Tuesday night.
"It's starting to sink in," Jack Taylor told vlog reporter Eric Hanson Wednesday morning. "What was pretty sobering when I woke up and I saw that Kobe had talked about my game and he’s my favorite player growing up. And that was really cool."
Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant said Wednesday that the scoring feat of Grinnell College's Jack Taylor is "pretty insane."
Taylor shattered the NCAA scoring record Tuesday night with 138 points in a 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible.
"We increase the pace of play. We press the entire game, try to wear the other team out," said Taylor.
"It was kind of cool for the home crowd to start chanting my name. That’s when I knew it was starting to become special," said Taylor. "I had no idea at any point in the game how many points I had. I was pretty fatigued at any point to think about that stuff. All that was on my mind was to just score the next possession."
"I think basketball is a sport where you can be a little creative and that’s what this program is all about is being creative with the game of basketball and having fun," said Taylor.
News about the game spread quickly online.
There's two games LeBron James wishes he could watch on tape: One is Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points. The other would be Jack Taylor scoring 138 points for Division III's Grinnell College.
The 5-10 sophomore from Black River Falls, Wis., sank 52 of 108 shots from the field -- including 27 3-pointers -- plus seven of 10 free throws. He says he felt like anything he tossed up was going in.
The Heat took notice of Taylor's record scoring effort on Wednesday, making references to the Grinnell guard in their morning shoot around practice before facing the Milwaukee Bucks. And afterward, the NBA's reigning MVP called what Taylor did on Tuesday night "unbelievable."
James said he doesn't believe he's ever topped 56 points in any game. He said he couldn't even manipulate a video game enough to score 100 points.
And in addition to the record, Taylor might have gotten a new nickname. "King James" is now calling Taylor "Sir Jack."
Rio Grande's Bevo Francis held the NCAA scoring record with 113 points against Hillsdale in 1954. Griffin Lentsch of Grinnell scored 89 against Principia last season.
Other NBA players are reacting, too. Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks says it's "like a video game" and teammate Raymond Felton says Taylor's elbow "has got to be sore."
The previous Grinnell record was 89 by Griffin Lentsch last Nov. 19 against Principia.