Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Elmore can make more history on senior day
3/8/2019 3:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Word on the Herd
Marshall will recognize four student-athletes before regular season finale
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – There have been 587 Division I men's basketball players who have scored at least 2,000 points. Jon Elmore is one of them.
There have been 68 Division I men's basketball players who have scored at least 2,500 points. With another 11 points, Elmore will join that elite list, too.
Elmore has 2,489 points in his Marshall career, along with 744 assists. When the Thundering Herd hosts FAU this Saturday at noon, in what could potentially be Elmore's final game inside the Henderson Center, an 11-point, six-assist effort will push the native of Charleston, West Virginia, across a pair of career milestones: 2,500 points and 750 assists. If that happens, Elmore will create the most exclusive list in college hoops history.
No one in Division I men's basketball has ever scored 2,500 points and dished out 750 assists. Not Pistol. Not Steph. Not the hick from French Lick.
Those are some of Elmore's heroes: Pete Maravich, Stephen Curry and Larry Bird. Elmore wears throwback jerseys in tribute to them, legendary players from whom he has watched and learned so much during his life as a basketball player and his journey as a record-breaking student-athlete at Marshall.
"Growing up, you watch those guys on TV and idolize them," Elmore said. "They're heroes to you. My goal was to get on that stage and put my name in that category with my play or statistically. Seeing that, it feels good, but I'm nowhere near finished."
Elmore has the most 3-pointers, assists and free throws in school history. He is Conference USA's career leader for points and assists. There isn't another league in Division I men's college basketball that has the same player as the record-holder for scoring and assists.
The 6-foot-3 Mountain State native is a statistical combination of shooter and distributor like no other in the history of the collegiate game. If health cooperates for 11 more points, Elmore will be the 69th player with 2,500 career points. Of those players, Duke's Johnny Dawkins has the most assists with 555. Elmore had 596 entering his senior season, and will likely top Dawkins by more than 200 before the season is finished.
After Elmore and Dawkins on the list of 2,500-point scorers is BYU's Jimmer Fredette with 515 assists. Marshall's Skip Henderson is on the list with 470 assists. Others: Tennessee's Allan Houston, Arizona's Sean Elliott, Indiana State's Bird, UNC's Tyler Hansbrough, Boston College's Troy Bell, LSU's Maravich and Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson.
Marshall is 17-13 entering the regular season finale, and has secured the No. 6 seed in next week's Conference USA tournament in Frisco, Texas. The Herd is on a four-game winning streak after falling to a .500 record overall, and Elmore has his sights on extending that streak to nine games. He doesn't want to lose on senior day, of course, and then it will take four-wins-in-four-days for Elmore and his teammates to return to the NCAA tournament.
So, while the records and statistics place Elmore among the college basketball's best, he is not focused on individual accomplishments.
"I live in the moment," Elmore said. "I want to concentrate on what's going on and focus on the present. I'm focused on trying to do better than last year. I'm sure when I'm finished playing I'll look back and it'll mean more to me."
Elmore has played in 126 games, which is tied for the third-most in program history. He could catch Skip Henderson for the career scoring record. He could still set the C-USA career 3-point record, too. He'll need big games and more games.
Whatever happens, Elmore will exit with a secure legacy. He and three other seniors who will be honored Saturday – C.J. Burks, Christian Thieneman and Rondale Watson – were part of history. Marshall returned to the NCAA tournament last March, the program's first berth in 31 seasons. The Herd defeated Wichita State, the program's first NCAA tournament win. They won a C-USA tournament championship, and stirred a hoops-hungry fan base.
"You couldn't have dreamed of a better situation," Elmore said. "Everything that has happened has far surpassed anything that I ever pictured in my college career. From playing, to living as a student on a daily basis, going to class, meeting my girlfriend, playing college ball with my brother, meeting some of my best friends and great people along the way – words can't describe how lucky I have been to have fallen into this situation and for it to have gone like it has."
Elmore will be honored along with Burks, who has similarly redesigned Marshall's record book. The 6-4, 185-pound senior from Martinsburg, West Virginia, has 1,776 career points, and could pass Herd greats Ryan Taylor and Tamar Slay on Saturday. Burks is No. 9 on the Herd's all-time scoring list.
Burks is No. 7 in field goals made (662), No. 6 in 3-pointers (205), No. 13 in assists (309) and No. 8 in steals (143).
Thieneman is a 6-5 junior from Louisville, Kentucky, who is a fourth-year student. He will forgo his final year of eligibility. Thieneman has scored 50 points in three seasons, seeing action in 37 games.
Watson is a 6-4 senior who played two seasons for the Herd. This season, he averages 7.5 points – fifth on the team – and has been a spark plug off the bench. The electrifying Watson, who is from Lewisburg, West Virginia, has scored 418 points in two seasons (55 appearances). He has grabbed 217 rebounds, dished out 100 assists and created 50 steals.
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a seven-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
