November 9th, 2021
The gift that kept on giving
Jabari Smith’s Auburn debut came on November 9, 2021. The highly touted freshman would only hit 3 shots that night against an overmatched mid-major, Morehead State.
But this isn’t about Jabari Smith.
Less than a minute into the action, Walker Kessler blocked a jumper from Morehead State’s sophomore Forward Johni Broome. It was the 26th block of Walker Kessler’s career. He’d block 154 more shots that season.
But this isn’t about Walker Kessler.
Auburn opened the game on an 11-0 run, then followed that up with a 22-2 run. It was never much of a contest, which allowed plenty of playing time for both benches. 27 players logged minutes that night.
This is about those 27* players.
One of those players was Jake Wolf.
Jake Wolf began his collegiate basketball career at Lipscomb. On November 6, 2018, his collegiate career began with 12 minutes against Sewanee. He logged his first career block - ironically, against his future team, Morehead State, nearly three weeks later.
For some added context, November 6, 2018 came just 72 hours after Jarrett Stidham hit Seth Williams for a game winning touchdown over Texas A&M. Shout out WarRoomEagle.
Another one of those players was Devan Cambridge.
On Friday (March 20, 2026), Devan Cambridge played his final game for 10 seed UCF, falling to 7 seed UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.
Between November 6, 2018 and March 20, 2026 - two games separated by 7 years, 4 months, and 15 days - the 27 players who logged minutes in that 2021 season opener combined for 1,563 blocks.
Nearly 27% of those - 419 - are attributed to Johni Broome. The only player to score 2,500 points and grab 1,500 rebounds in NCAA history finished his career tied for 23rd (According to Stathead) in career blocks in the NCAA record books.
Dylan Cardwell finished his collegiate career with 211 blocks, two shy of cracking the top 400 in NCAA history. His career average of 1 block every 11.9 minutes played was exceptional.
Walker Kessler blocked 155 shots his only season at Auburn, the 29th highest single season total in NCAA history (according to Stathead). He blocked 180 shots total during two-year stint in college basketball.
Babatunde Akingbola transferred to George Washington for his senior season, where he blocked 84 shots in 32 games for the Revolutionaries. His career block total was 118.
Jaylin Williams quietly amassed 108 career blocks in 5 seasons as an Auburn Tiger. Chris Moore had 33. Devan Cambridge finished with 90 blocks. Jabari Smith blocked 35 in his one season in college. Lior Berman even blocked a pair of shots. Zep, Wendell, and KD Johnson combined for 24.
My favorite pet project - something I’ve been tracking for about 2 years, is finally over. Devan Cambridge was the last player from that night with any eligibility left. He played in 174 games as a student athlete.
This obscure statistic - 1,563 combined career blocks by participants in a single Division 1 game - is nearly impossible to compare to other single game totals. (To be fair, no sane person would ever attempt to cobble together such a statistic.) I’ve long thought it may be the highest total ever recorded, due to 1) COVID-extended careers of most participants, and 2) Johni Broome’s total.
Surprisingly, I found a contender rather quickly. The 2025 Round of 32 matchup between Auburn and Creighton - featuring both Johni Broome (419 blocks) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (399 blocks) - had rosters that combined for 1,394 blocks so far - Tahaad Pettiford (and some of the Creighton roster) are still playing. Both Broome and Kalkbrenner are top-30 career shot blockers. Finding matchups between anyone in the top 200 is difficult.
Thanks for indulging me.
*Allen Flanigan was recovering from an off-season scooter accident of some sort and did not suit up. Had he been healthy, he would have been the 28th player to log a stat in this game, and would have added 42 blocks to the combined total. Alas.