In basketball, an assist is a pass to a teammate that directly leads to a score by field goal. The top 25 highest assists totals in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball history are listed below. The NCAA did not split into its current divisions format until August 1973. From 1906 to 1955, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). Then, from 1956 to spring 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)". Assists are a relatively new statistic in college basketball, having only become an official statistic beginning with the 1983âÂÂ84 season. Therefore Billy Allen, who split his career between SMU and Nevada and amassed 940 assists during his career between 1978 and 1983, is not officially recognized in the all-time ranks.
According to the 2022âÂÂ23 NCAA Division I men's basketball media guide, there were also two seasons in the early 1950s in which assists were recorded: 1950âÂÂ51 and 1951âÂÂ52.
The current all-time leader in career assists is Braden Smith of the Purdue Boilermakers. He recorded 1,103 assists in 149 games (7.40 per game average) between 2022 and 2026. Second on the list is Bobby Hurley of the Duke Blue Devils who compiled 1,076 assists over four seasons. Only three other players besides Smith and Hurley have recorded 1,000 career assists at the Division I level: Chris Corchiani of NC State (1,038), Ed Cota of North Carolina (1,030), and Jason Brickman of LIU Brooklyn (1,009). Sherman Douglas of Syracuse is the only player on this list who also recorded 20 or more assists in a single game at both the Division I and National Basketball Association levels. For his college career, he played in 138 games while recording 960 assists.