# List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season assists leaders

In basketball, an assist is a pass to a teammate that directly leads to a score by field goal. The National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I assist title is awarded to the player with the highest assists per game average in a given season. The assist title was first recognized in the 1950–51 season when statistics on assists were first compiled by the NCAA, but there are no officially recorded assist leaders between 1952–53 and 1982–83. The NCAA did not split into its current divisions format until August 1973. From 1906 to 1955, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). Then, from 1956 to 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)".
Avery Johnson of Southern University holds the all-time NCAA Division I record for single season assists per game (apg) average (13.30), which he accomplished in 1987–88. He also recorded 399 assists that season, which is the second highest single season mark behind UNLV's Mark Wade's record of 406, which occurred in 1986–87. From 1952–53 to 1982–83, the official NCAA record book has no assists per game leaders. Oklahoma freshman Trae Young was the first player to lead the NCAA in both assists and points in the 2017–18 season, while Murray State sophomore Ja Morant was the first player in NCAA history to average at least 20 points and 10 assists throughout the same season in the 2018–19 season.
Four players have earned multiple assist titles: Avery Johnson of Southern (1987, 1988), Jared Jordan of Marist (2006, 2007), Jason Brickman of LIU Brooklyn (2013, 2014), and Yuri Collins of Saint Louis. There has been one tie for the national assists leader, which happened during the 2004–05 season when Damitrius Coleman of Mercer and Will Funn of Portland State recorded identical season statistics: 28 games played, 224 total assists and an 8.00 apg average.
Only three freshmen (T. J. Ford, Lonzo Ball, and Trae Young) and two sophomores (Jason Kidd and Ja Morant) have led Division I in average assists. Two players born outside the United States have led Division I in assists — 1995–96 leader Raimonds Miglinieks of UC Irvine, born in modern-day Latvia (the Latvian SSR of the Soviet Union at the time of his birth), and 1999–2000 leader Mark Dickel of UNLV, born in New Zealand.

## Key

| Pos. | G | F | C | APG | Ref. |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center | Assists 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 |
| † | Denotes a tie for the season's assists leader |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player had been the assists leader up to and including that season |

## Assists leaders

Except as specifically noted, 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 | Assists | APG | Ref. |
| 1950–51 | Bill Walker | G | Sr | Toledo | 29 | 210 | 7.24 | |
| 1951–52 | Tom O'Toole | G | Sr | Boston College | 27 | 213 | 7.89 | |
| 1953–83 | No assists leaders recorded | No assists leaders recorded | No assists leaders recorded | No assists leaders recorded | No assists leaders recorded | No assists leaders recorded | No assists leaders recorded | No assists leaders recorded |
| 1983–84 | Craig Lathen | G | Jr | UIC | 29 | 274 | 9.45 | |
| 1984–85 | Robbie Weingard | G | Sr | Hofstra | 24 | 228 | 9.50 | |
| 1985–86 | Mark Jackson | G | Jr | St. John's | 36 | 328 | 9.11 | |
| 1986–87 | Avery Johnson | G | Jr | Southern | 31 | 333 | 10.74 | |
| 1987–88 | Avery Johnson (2) | G | Sr | Southern | 30 | 399 | 13.30 | |
| 1988–89 | Glenn Williams | G | Sr | Holy Cross | 28 | 278 | 9.93 | |
| 1989–90 | Todd Lehmann | G | Sr | Drexel | 28 | 260 | 9.29 | |
| 1990–91 | Chris Corchiani | G | Sr | NC State | 31 | 299 | 9.65 | |
| 1991–92 | Van Usher | G | Sr | Tennessee Tech | 29 | 254 | 8.76 | |
| 1992–93 | Sam Crawford | G | Sr | New Mexico State | 34 | 310 | 9.12 | |
| 1993–94 | Jason Kidd* | G | So | California | 30 | 272 | 9.07 | |
| 1994–95 | Nelson Haggerty | G | Sr | Baylor | 28 | 284 | 10.14 | |
| 1995–96 | Raimonds Miglinieks | G | Sr | UC Irvine | 27 | 230 | 8.52 | |
| 1996–97 | Kenneth Mitchell | G | Sr | Dartmouth | 26 | 203 | 7.81 | |
| 1997–98 | Ahlon Lewis | G | Sr | Arizona State | 32 | 294 | 9.19 | |
| 1998–99 | Doug Gottlieb | G | Jr | Oklahoma State | 34 | 299 | 8.79 | |
| 1999–00 | Mark Dickel | G | Sr | UNLV | 31 | 280 | 9.03 | |
| 2000–01 | Markus Carr | G | Jr | Cal State Northridge | 32 | 286 | 8.94 | |
| 2001–02 | T. J. Ford | G | Fr | Texas | 33 | 273 | 8.27 | |
| 2002–03 | Martell Bailey | G | Jr | UIC | 30 | 244 | 8.13 | |
| 2003–04 | Greg Davis | G | Sr | Troy | 31 | 256 | 8.26 | |
| 2004–05$^†$ | Damitrius Coleman | G | Jr | Mercer | 28 | 224 | 8.00 | |
| 2004–05$^†$ | Will Funn | G | Sr | Portland State | 28 | 224 | 8.00 | |
| 2005–06 | Jared Jordan | G | Jr | Marist | 29 | 247 | 8.52 | |
| 2006–07 | Jared Jordan (2) | G | Sr | Marist | 33 | 286 | 8.67 | |
| 2007–08 | Jason Richards | G | Sr | Davidson | 36 | 293 | 8.14 | |
| 2008–09 | Johnathon Jones | G | Jr | Oakland | 36 | 290 | 8.06 | |
| 2009–10 | Ronald Moore | G | Sr | Siena | 34 | 261 | 7.68 | |
| 2010–11 | Aaron Johnson | G | Sr | UAB | 31 | 239 | 7.71 | |
| 2011–12 | Scott Machado | G | Sr | Iona | 33 | 327 | 9.91 | |
| 2012–13 | Jason Brickman | G | Jr | LIU Brooklyn | 34 | 289 | 8.50 | |
| 2013–14 | Jason Brickman (2) | G | Sr | LIU Brooklyn | 29 | 289 | 9.97 | |
| 2014–15 | Jalan West | G | Jr | Northwestern State | 32 | 246 | 7.69 | |
| 2015–16 | Kay Felder | G | Jr | Oakland | 35 | 324 | 9.26 | |
| 2016–17 | Lonzo Ball | G | Fr | UCLA | 36 | 274 | 7.61 | |
| 2017–18 | Trae Young | G | Fr | Oklahoma | 32 | 279 | 8.71 | |
| 2018–19 | Ja Morant | G | So | Murray State | 33 | 331 | 10.03 | |
| 2019–20 | Kameron Langley | G | Jr | North Carolina A&T | 31 | 247 | 7.96 | |
| 2020–21 | Jalen Moore | G | Jr | Oakland | 30 | 252 | 8.40 | |
| 2021–22 | Yuri Collins | G | Jr | Saint Louis | 34 | 267 | 7.85 | |
| 2022–23 | Yuri Collins (2) | G | Sr | Saint Louis | 32 | 324 | 10.12 | |
| 2023–24 | Tyler Kolek | G | Sr | Marquette | 31 | 239 | 7.71 | |
* 1 2 At the time, Long Island University operated two separate athletic programs—the Division I LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, representing the school's Brooklyn campus, and the Division II LIU Post Pioneers, representing the Post campus in Nassau County, New York. After the 2018–19 school year, the university merged its athletic programs, creating the current LIU Sharks. The Sharks inherited LIU Brooklyn's Division I and Northeast Conference memberships, as well as the history and records of all sports that the Brooklyn campus sponsored at the time of the merger.