3.75 points per minute. That’s the rate at which Jack Taylor ’15 scored for each of the 29 minutes he played on Sunday, Nov. 17 when the Pioneers beat Crossroads College 173-123. His total of 109 points placed him third on the NCAA basketball record board for most points in a single game, only behind Clarence “Bevo” Francis’ 113-point game in 1954 and Taylor’s own 138-point game last season.
Taylor’s 109-point game came after Grinnell’s season opener, in which Taylor had an impressive 71 points. However, in the most recent game against Wartburg College on Wednesday evening, Taylor was held to just three points as he faced double- and triple-teams all evening.
Nearly half of Taylor’s 109 points in the game against Crossroads came in the beginning of the second half when he scored 53 points in the first nine minutes.
“I knew I had [a 100-plus point game] going coming out of halftime. I got into a rhythm offensively early in the second half and our team just rode the wave for as long as we could,” Taylor said in an email to the S&B.
Head coach David Arseneault Sr. knew Taylor would be having another memorable game after he realized Crossroads’ defensive strategy.
“As soon as I saw the opposing team playing man-to-man defense I said, ‘Here we go’ … I knew that they would not have the ability to contain him playing man-to-man,” Arsenault said through email.
While the nation may be amazed by Taylor’s scoring frenzies, Arseneault isn’t surprised in the least. As soon as Taylor transferred to Grinnell in 2012, largely in order to play for Arseneault under “The System,” Grinnell’s fast, high-scoring style of play, the coach had high expectations for him.
“I expected him to come in here and lead the country in scoring,” Arseneault said. “[The System] changed the second he set foot on this campus.”
Lead the nation in scoring, he did. Although Taylor’s season was cut short last year due to a wrist injury, and he did not play enough to qualify as an NCAA statistical leader, over the 12 games he played, he averaged 36.3 points per game. This was 9.5 points per game higher than Brandon Givens of North Carolina Wesleyan College, who led NCAA Division III in scoring with 26.8 points per game over the 2012-2013 season.
It appears Taylor is on track once again to lead the Pioneers for a successful season, as well as leading the nation in scoring.
“If we are going to be successful over these next two years, it will be the result of Jack leading the way offensively. I sure hope he has a lot more offensive basketball in him!” Arsenault wrote.
The Pioneers are currently 3-0 overall and set to face their first conference opponent, Illinois College, on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m in Jacksonville, Ill. While you won’t be able to catch the action live in Darby Gymnasium, due to Taylor’s and Grinnell’s national popularity, the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.
