WBU Basketball/Twitter
JJ Culver became the second player in NAIA history to reach triple digits and outscored Wayland Baptist's opponent by 40 points on his own.
- JJ Culver became the second player in NAIA history to reach triple digits as he dropped 100 points against Southwestern Adventist University Tuesday night.
- The elder brother of 2019 first-round draft pick and former Texas Tech standout Jarrett Culver, JJ had amassed a Wayland Baptist program-record 51 points by halftime in the college basketball blowout.
- Head coach Ty Harrelson considered benching his star - the NAIA leading scorer - but when he consulted Culver's teammates, they were unanimously in favor of letting the senior chase the 100-point mark made famous by NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain.
- Though it's not a well-worn path from an NAIA program, JJ hopes to follow in his brother's footsteps and play professional basketball in the future.
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JJ Culver has long been the go-to scorer for the Wayland Baptist Pioneers, but his prolific performance Tuesday was an anomaly even in his impressive collegiate career.
He scored 100 points.
Not even his younger brother, NBA rookie and former Texas Tech standout Jarrett Culver, achieved the feat. Nor did his idol, Kobe Bryant, in the course of his illustrious career.
No one in Wayland Baptist program history had ever come close to the elder Culver's historic mark. In fact, only one other player in NAIA history had ever scored in triple digits.
"Definitely a dream come true," Culver said in a tweet after the game. "I put in a lot of work for this. I love playing basketball and thanks, everyone, for the support."
By halftime in the Pioneers' blowout win against Southwestern Adventist University, Culver had already broken the Wayland Baptist scoring record with 51 points under his belt. Head coach Ty Harrelson considered benching his star - the NAIA leading scorer - but when he consulted Culver's teammates, they were unanimously in favor of letting the senior chase the 100-point mark made famous by Wilt Chamberlain.
"If I would've had one player say, 'Coach, I don't like this,' or, 'No, we don't want to do this,' we would've changed," Harrelson told Yahoo. "But I think they realized they had a chance to be a part of something special."
"And there's been times where he probably could've broken school records, and I stopped it," he added. "I've either taken him out of the game, or I've told him, 'Go get your assists.' … And today I just said, 'As long as [you] take the right shots…'"
Culver did, and, as Harrelson noted, "the amazing thing was that he was making so many of them." With right around one minute remaining, the senior sharpshooter had amassed a whopping 98 points. With his brother, Trey, looking on, Culver made a cut along the baseline and laid in a layup to reach the unfathomable mark.
Later in the night, Jarrett Culver shared his shock and pride in his brother's accomplishment on social media:
The Minnesota Timberwolves' 2019 first-round draft pick also FaceTimed with his older brother after the game, according to Yahoo! The No. 6 overall pick was reportedly "at a loss for words."
"I don't even know what to say, bro," he marveled.
Though it's not a well-worn path from an NAIA program, JJ hopes to follow his brother to the NBA in the future.
Check out the full highlight reel from Culver's triple-digit showing below:
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