The Waterboy
Jeff Yoder | Sports Co-Editor
This is not a column titled after the 1998 comedy with Adam Sandler. It's a place to take a break from the action, step over to the sideline and let me refresh you with a cold cup of sports knowledge. Every other week, I'll give a response to the professional and college sports worlds' latest controversy.
A 5-foot, 10-inch, 170-pound guard named Jack Taylor made history over Thanksgiving Break. A year ago he was playing lacrosse at the University of Wisconsin. Now he holds the NCAA basketball scoring record for most points in a game with 138. Taylor, a sophomore at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, netted a jaw-dropping 138 points against Faith Baptist Bible College on Tuesday, Nov. 20. Grinnell took down Faith Baptist Bible 179-104 in a game that was more of a circus than a legitimate contest. The first thing you need to know about the Grinnell Pioneers is that they have led the NCAA in scoring 17 of the past 19 years. Grinnell head coach David Arsenault runs a system where the team scraps for steals at a rapid pace and shoots within 12 seconds of each possession. Their roster is 15 deep and they substitute a new five players every 30 seconds to keep everyone moving at lightning pace. The Pioneers are averaging 134 points per game while giving up 109 with their high-risk high-reward play. With Jack Taylor "struggling" to shoot the ball in the team's first two games, the game plan against Faith Baptist was to get him going. Taylor ball-hogged his way through the first half, thinking he had racked up about 30 points. It was coach's orders for him to shoot nearly every possession, something no player is used to, and Taylor didn't realize he was 20 minutes from making history. "Coach walked in with a stat sheet and said I had 58," Taylor said. "You could see the team's eyes light up." The rest of the team knew about Griffin Lentsch's 89-point performance for Grinnell just over a year ago. With the game already in hand and no mercy in mind for Faith Baptist, Taylor continued to play and shoot. By the final buzzer, he had shattered the old NCAA record of 113 points held by Bevo Francis of Rio Grande in a game against Hillsdale in 1954. Taylor shot 48 percent from the floor, going 52-for-108 total and 27-for-71 from the 3-point line. He also grabbed an impressive three rebounds in the game. All of these were offensive rebounds and most likely from his own misses. The most ridiculous part of Taylor's stat line was - get this - zero assists. Zero! After he hit the century mark midway through the second half, you would think coach would be content to let him dish out of a double-team rather than heave up threes in a game where they're up 50 points. In the end, Taylor recorded a shot every 20 seconds. To put the fluke performance in perspective, Wilt Chamberlain launched one every 46 seconds in his historic 100-point game, and Kobe Bryant only shot every 73 seconds in his 81-point embarrassment of the Raptors in 2006. They each had two assists. Grinnell's ridiculous "spray and pray" offense is entertaining, but most don't think it's good for the sport. The Pioneers cruised through their trio of tune-up games but lost last Sunday to William Penn University 116-131. Taylor said all the right things and even gave the glory to God, so I'll give him credit for that and for making the history books. However, he needs to share - both the ball and the spotlight. A Faith Baptist player put up 70 in the game and ESPN wouldn't even give his name after the game.
