Bryce Alford destined for top 5 on UCLA career scoring list

Bryce Alford is just 44 points from moving into fifth on UCLA’s career scoring list

Bryce Alford has long since carved out a place for himself in the UCLA record book. Now he’s just etching his name deeper.

The senior’s 26 points in UCLA’s blowout win against USC on Saturday moved him into seventh on UCLA’s all-time scoring list with 1,802. With four games left in the regular season in addition to any Pac-12 and NCAA tournament games, he is just 13 points behind Ed O’Bannon and 44 from surpassing Toby Bailey to move into the top five.

There are plenty of questions surrounding the coach’s son – and his father’s role in aiding totals that will land him among UCLA’s all-time greats – but he has managed to be consistently productive during all four years of his career. Should a guy who seemingly has little to no shot at the NBA have played ahead of current Minnesota Timberwolves 19-point per game scorer Zach LaVine during his lone season at UCLA? Should Alford be playing now ahead of defensively superior sophomore Aaron Holiday?

Alford said earlier this season he has learned to block out such noise. His detractors won’t like to hear that Alford has a decent chance to leave UCLA as the all-time leader in one significant offensive category.

The current Pac-12 leader in 3-point field goal percentage (46.1%) is 16 3-pointers from surpassing Jason Kapono to be UCLA’s all-time leader in made shots from beyond the arc. He holds the single-season record of 93 he set as a sophomore. Already with 88 this season, he’s on pace surpass his own mark.

The only player in program history to record 1,700 career points and 500 career assists will probably settle in behind Reggie Miller to finish his career fifth on the school’s prestigious career scoring list. But Miller and Kapono, who are tied for third with 2,095 career points, don’t appear to be in jeopardy. Even if UCLA played three games in the Pac-12 tournament and advanced to the championship game of the NCAA tournament, Alford would need to average 22.5 points over the 13-game span from now until April 3 to move into third on the career scoring list behind only Don MacLean and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Alford currently averages 16.2.