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The highest-scoring games in March Madness barely have see the two teams combine for 200 points. The shorter format of college games and physical defensive schemes from the majority of the teams make scoring difficult. But that wasn't the case decades ago when teams often scored in bulk.
The highest-scoring game in NCAA March Madness history was played in the second round of the 1990 edition between No. 11 seed Loyola Marymount and No. 3 seed Michigan. Loyola won 149-115 as the teams combined to score an NCAA record 264 points. The record still stands tall after 33 years.
After thousands of games that have taken place in NCAA history, only 19 games have seen the two teams combine to score at least 200 points. The last instance was in Round 1 of the 2008 first-round game between No. 12 seed Western Kentucky and No. 5 seed Drake, with WKU winning 101-99.
Revisiting the highest-scoring March Madness game
The late 1980s Loyola Marymount team under former LA Lakers coach Paul Westhead was arguably the best offensive team in NCAA history. Nobody came close to them when putting up outrageous box scores on the offensive end.
During their historic 1990 second-round March Madness game against Michigan, the Lions shot 55.1% on 89 attempts. Twenty-one of those came from beyond the arc, which created the scoring disparity as Michigan made only four shots from deep. Jeff Fryer scored 41 for the Lions on 15-for-20 shooting, including 11 3s, while Bo Kimble had 37 points.
Loyola went from averaging 112.2 to 122.4 points per game in three seasons. In the 1989-90 season, they averaged 21.1 points more than the second-highest-scoring college program in the country. The Lions were just as bad defensively. They conceded 107.3 points in 1988-89 and 108.1 points the following year, 11.1 points more than other NCAA Division I teams.
Westhead's crew was responsible for five of the 19 highest-scoring NCAA March Madness games. Interestingly, all those games took place in three years between 1988 and 1990. Westhead eventually departed to coach the Denver Nuggets in the NBA in 1990, ending a successful tenure with the Lions.
Their average of 122.4 ppg in a season still stands tall in NCAA basketball.
Also read: Markquis Nowell breaks NCAA assists record: All you need to know
