List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season blocks leaders

In basketball, a block (short for blocked shot) occurs when a defender deflects or stops a field goal attempt without committing a foul.^[1] The National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I block title is awarded to the player with the highest blocks per game average in a given season. The block title was first recognized in the 1985–86 season when statistics on blocks were first compiled by the NCAA.^[2]

David Robinson recorded 207 blocks in 1985–86, the most for a single season in NCAA history.

David Robinson of Navy holds the all-time NCAA Division I record single-season total blocks record (207) which was set during 1985–86, coincidentally the first season that the NCAA kept track of blocked shots.^[2][3] Although Robinson holds the single-season record, it is Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State who claims the all-time career blocked shots record (564).^[4] The highest single-season blocks per game (bpg) record is held by Northeastern's Shawn James, who averaged 6.53 blocks in 2005–06.^[5]

Five players have been two-time NCAA bpg leaders: David Robinson (1986, 1987), Keith Closs (1995, 1996), Tarvis Williams (1999, 2001), Jarvis Varnado (2008, 2009), and Jamarion Sharp (2022, 2023). Additionally, six freshmen have led Division I in blocks: Alonzo Mourning (1989), Shawn Bradley (1991), Keith Closs (1995), Hassan Whiteside (2010), Anthony Davis (2012), and Chris Obekpa (2013). Among all-time NCAA blocks leaders, only Robinson, Mourning, and Shaquille O'Neal are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.^[6]

Keith Closs, the blocks leader in 1995 and 1996, only played college basketball for two seasons.^[7] He left the NCAA after only two years to pursue a career in professional basketball, thereby foregoing his final two seasons of eligibility under NCAA by-laws. Had he decided to stay at Central Connecticut, Closs could have potentially become the first player to lead Division I in blocks for not only three years, but possibly all four.

Nine players on this list were born outside the United States—Shawn Bradley in Germany (West Germany at the time of his birth), Adonal Foyle in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Wojciech Myrda in Poland, Deng Gai in what is now South Sudan (part of Sudan at the time of his birth), Chris Obekpa in Nigeria, Jordan Bachynski in Canada, Vashil Fernandez in Jamaica, Liam Thomas in Australia, and Ajdin Penava in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Key

Pos. G F C BPG Ref. Position Guard Forward Center Blocks per game References Class (Cl.) key Fr Freshman So Sophomore Jr Junior Sr Senior

^ Player still active in NCAA Division I * Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player had been the blocks leader up to and including that season

Blocks leaders

 

Alonzo Mourning was the first freshman to win the shot blocking title.

 

Adonal Foyle led the NCAA as a junior in 1997.

 

Jarvis Varnado led the NCAA in 2008 and 2009.

 

Anthony Davis led the country in 2012 en route to national Defensive Player of the Year honors.

All teams are listed with their current athletic brand names, which do not always reflect those used by a given program in a specific season.

Season	Player	Pos.	Cl.	Team	Games played	Blocks	BPG	Ref.
1985–86	David Robinson*	C	Jr	Navy	35	207	5.91	^[3]
1986–87	David Robinson* (2)	C	Sr	Navy	32	144	4.50	^[3]
1987–88	Rodney Blake	C	Sr	Saint Joseph's	29	116	4.00	^[8]
1988–89	Alonzo Mourning*	C	Fr	Georgetown	34	169	4.97	^[9]
1989–90	Kenny Green	F	Sr	Rhode Island	26	124	4.77	^[10]
1990–91	Shawn Bradley	C	Fr	BYU	34	177	5.21	^[11]
1991–92	Shaquille O'Neal*	C	Jr	LSU	30	157	5.23	^[12]
1992–93	Theo Ratliff	C/F	So	Wyoming	28	124	4.43	^[13]
1993–94	Grady Livingston	C	Jr	Howard	26	115	4.42	^[14]
1994–95	Keith Closs	C	Fr	Central Connecticut	26	139	5.35	^[15]
1995–96	Keith Closs (2)	C	So	Central Connecticut	28	178	6.36	^[15]
1996–97	Adonal Foyle	C	Jr	Colgate	28	180	6.43	^[16]
1997–98	Jerome James	C	Sr	Florida A&M	27	125	4.63	^[17]
1998–99	Tarvis Williams	C/F	So	Hampton	27	135	5.00	^[18]
1999–00	Ken Johnson	C	Jr	Ohio State	30	161	5.37	^[19]
2000–01	Tarvis Williams (2)	C/F	Sr	Hampton	32	147	4.59	^[18]
2001–02	Wojciech Myrda	C	Sr	Louisiana–Monroe	32	172	5.38	^[20]
2002–03	Emeka Okafor	C	So	Connecticut	33	156	4.73	^[21]
2003–04	Anwar Ferguson	C	Sr	Houston	27	111	4.11	^[22]
2004–05	Deng Gai	F	Sr	Fairfield	30	165	5.50	^[23]
2005–06	Shawn James	F	So	Northeastern	30	196	6.53	^[24]
2006–07	Mickell Gladness	C	Jr	Alabama A&M	30	188	6.27	^[25]
2007–08	Jarvis Varnado	F/C	So	Mississippi State	34	157	4.62	^[26]
2008–09	Jarvis Varnado (2)	F/C	Jr	Mississippi State	36	170	4.72	^[26]
2009–10	Hassan Whiteside	F/C	Fr	Marshall	34	182	5.35	^[27]
2010–11	William Mosley	C	Jr	Northwestern State	32	156	4.88	^[28]
2011–12	Anthony Davis	C	Fr	Kentucky	40	186	4.65	^[29]
2012–13	Chris Obekpa	C	Fr	St. John's	33	133	4.03	^[30]
2013–14	Jordan Bachynski	C	Sr	Arizona State	33	133	4.03	^[31]
2014–15	Jordan Mickey	F	So	LSU	31	112	3.61	^[32]
2015–16	Vashil Fernandez	C	Sr	Valparaiso	36	119	3.31	^[33]
2016–17	Liam Thomas	C	Sr	Nicholls	31	130	4.19	^[34]
2017–18	Ajdin Penava	F	Jr	Marshall	34	134	3.94	^[35]
2018–19	Brandon Gilbeck	C	Sr	Western Illinois	31	106	3.42	^[36]
2019–20	Osasumwen Osaghae	F	Sr	FIU	32	119	3.71	^[37]
2020–21	KC Ndefo	F	Jr	Saint Peter's	25	91	3.64	^[38]
2021–22	Jamarion Sharp^	C	Jr	Western Kentucky	32	148	4.62	^[39]
2022–23	Jamarion Sharp^ (2)	C	Sr	Western Kentucky	32	131	4.09	^[39]

References

General

• "2022–23 NCAA Men's Basketball Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.

Specific

1. . FIBA.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
2. "2009–10 NCAA Men's Basketball Records" (PDF). 2009–10 NCAA Men's Basketball Media Guide. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
3. "David Robinson". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
4. Gardner, Tim (February 25, 2010). "Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado blocks his way into NCAA record books". USA Today. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
5. "Shawn James Draft 2008 Profile". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. 2008. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
6. . HoopHall.com. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
7. (PDF). NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
8. . SJUHawks.com. Saint Joseph's University. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
9. "Alonzo Mourning". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
10. "10 To Be Enshrined in URI Athletic Hall of Fame". University of Rhode Island. September 7, 2000. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
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13. "Theo Ratliff". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
14. . HickokSports.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
15. . DeltaJammersPlay2Win.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
16. "Adonal Foyle". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
17. "Jerome James". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
18. . NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
19. "Ken Johnson". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
20. "Wojciech Myrda stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
21. "Emeka Okafor". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
22. "Anwar Ferguson stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
23. "Deng Gai". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
24. "Shawn James stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
25. "Mickell Gladness stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
26. "Jarvis Varnado stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
27. "Hassan Whiteside stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
28. "William Mosley stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
29. "Anthony Davis stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
30. "Chris Obekpa stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
31. "Jordan Bachynski stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
32. "Jordan Mickey stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
33. "Vashil Fernandez stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
34. "Liam Thomas stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
35. "Ajdin Penava stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
36. "Brandon Gilbeck stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
37. "Osasumwen Osaghae stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
38. "KC Ndefo stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
39. "Jamarion Sharp stats". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 20, 2022.