Bryce Alford and Reggie Miller aren’t often mentioned in the same breath. But their names will likely sit next to each other on UCLA’s career scoring list by the time this season is over.

Alford exploded for a career-high 37 points in Thursday’s 104-89 win at Colorado, achieving the feat in a fashion Miller could appreciate with nine-3-pointers. Alford passed Marques Johnson (1,659) on Thursday to move into 15th on UCLA’s career scoring list with 1,687 points. The senior will likely pass Gail Goodrich (1,691) on Saturday in Utah.

If Alford equals his average of 17.9 points per game through the end of the regular season, he will rank fifth behind only Miller and Jason Kapono, who each finished with 2,095 points. Don MacLean (2,608) is UCLA’s all-time leading scorer and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2,325) sits in second.

Alford said earlier this season he won’t forget the way he was treated early in his college career when fans questioned if he would play for a program the caliber of UCLA were his father not the coach. Reaching the top five on the school’s career scoring list would undoubtedly leave a satisfying mark of justification in the record book for both Alfords.

Even if Alford equals his scoring average every game and UCLA plays a combined eight games in the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments, he will still fall more than 20 points short of Miller and Kapono.

But Alford is on pace to surpass Kapono’s school-record 317 3-pointers. With nine on Thursday Alford now has 275, putting him on pace to finish the season with nine more 3-pointers than Kapono’s career mark.