List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career games played leaders

In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the statistic for total games played in Division I men's basketball helps opposing coaches to monitor the extent that a particular player is used on a team. By definition, a player has "played in a game" when he enters the contest via substitution or by starting the contest. All that is required is that he is one of the five players for a team on the court for a minimal time of one second according to the game clock.

As of the end of the 2021–22 season, the all-time leader in games played is Jordan Bohannon, who played six seasons at Iowa and appeared in 179 games. Bohannon benefited from two special provisions of NCAA rules that allowed him to play in more than the standard four seasons.

Normally, the only way for a player to play in more than four NCAA seasons is to qualify for a "medical redshirt", officially known by the NCAA as a "hardship waiver". To be eligible, a player must have participated in fewer than one third of his team's scheduled games in that season, and cannot have participated in any games in the second half of the season. Bohannon received a medical redshirt in 2019–20, a season in which he played 10 games. Several other players on the career leaders list benefited from this rule. Bohannon also benefited from a special NCAA eligibility waiver for the 2020–21 season, which was so heavily disrupted by COVID-19 that the NCAA announced it would not count that season against any player's period of eligibility. He chose to play a final season in 2021–22.

Five other members of the career leaders list have played in six seasons:

• Jalen Coleman-Lands, currently playing at Kansas, who started play at Illinois in 2015–16 and transferred to DePaul, sitting out the 2017–18 season due to then-current NCAA transfer rules. He suffered a season-ending injury in 2018–19 after playing nine games and received a medical redshirt, playing a full 2019–20 season at DePaul. Coleman-Lands then received a rare sixth season of eligibility for 2020–21, playing at Iowa State, and took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver and transferred to Kansas.
• Aaron Cook Jr., who started his college career at Southern Illinois in 2016–17 and suffered a season-ending injury in 2019–20 after playing six games. After graduating in 2020, he transferred to Gonzaga for the 2020–21 season, and then took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver and transferred to Georgia.
• John Fulkerson, who has played his entire career at Tennessee. He started his college career in 2016–17 and suffered a season-ending injury in his 10th game of that season, receiving a medical redshirt. Fulkerson chose to play for a sixth season in 2021–22 following the COVID-19 waiver.
• Justin Kier, currently playing at Arizona, who began his career at George Mason in 2016–17 and played four seasons, suffering a season-ending injury in his senior season in 2019–20 after playing in 9 games. After graduating from George Mason, he transferred to Georgia for what should have been his final season of eligibility, and took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver to transfer again to Arizona for 2021–22.
• Grant Golden of Richmond, who suffered a season-ending injury in his freshman season of 2016–17, played in only nine games that year. He took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver, allowing him to play a rare sixth eligible season in 2021–22.

Key

Pos.	G	F	C	Ref.
Position	Guard	Forward	Center	References

Team (X)	Denotes the number of times a player from that school appears on the list
^	Player still active in NCAA Division I

Top 25 games played leaders

Jordan Bohannon is the all-time leader in games played with 179.

David Lighty has the most all-time games among pre-COVID era players.

Przemek Karnowski played in 152 games between 2012 and 2017.

Darius Miller, who also played in 152 games, is tied for first among players who participated in the standard four seasons.

Includes ties for 25th. Accurate as of games played through March 26, 2022.

Player	Pos.	Team(s)	Games played	Career start	Career end	Medical redshirt?	COVID waiver?	Ref.
Jordan Bohannon	G	Iowa	179	2016	2022	Y	Y
Chevez Goodwin	F	College of Charleston / Wofford / USC	172	2016	2022	N	Y
Jalen Coleman-Lands ^	G	Illinois / DePaul / Iowa State / Kansas	171	2015	present	Y	Y
Justin Kier	G	George Mason / Georgia (2) / Arizona	170	2016	2022	Y	Y
Garrison Brooks	F	North Carolina / Mississippi State	167	2017	2022	N	Y
Mitch Lightfoot ^	F	Kansas (2)	166	2016	present	N	Y
John Fulkerson	F	Tennessee	165	2016	2022	Y	Y
Aaron Cook Jr.	G	Southern Illinois / Gonzaga / Georgia	164	2016	2022	Y	Y
Abdul Ado	F	Mississippi State (2) / Cincinnati	163	2017	2022	N	Y
Marcus Santos-Silva	F	VCU / Texas Tech	163	2017	2022	N	Y
Nysier Brooks	C	Cincinnati (2) / Miami (FL) / Ole Miss	162	2016	2022	N	Y
Theo John	F	Marquette / Duke	162	2017	2022	N	Y
Storm Murphy	G	Wofford (2) / Virginia Tech	162	2017	2022	N	Y
Brad Davison	G	Wisconsin	161	2017	2022	N	Y
Grant Golden	F	Richmond	161	2016	2022	Y	Y
Hayden Koval	C	Central Arkansas / UNC Greensboro / Cincinnati (3)	161	2017	2022	N	Y
Jamaree Bouyea	G	San Francisco	160	2017	2022	N	Y
Brady Manek ^	G	Oklahoma / North Carolina (2)	160	2017	present	N	Y
Alex O'Connell	G	Duke (2) / Creighton	160	2017	2022	N	Y
Eli Brooks	G	Michigan	159	2017	2022	N	Y
Michael Ertel	G	Louisiana–Monroe / UAB	159	2017	2022	N	Y
D'Shawn Schwartz	G	Colorado / George Mason (2)	159	2017	2022	N	Y
Da'Monte Williams	G	Illinois (2)	159	2017	2022	N	Y
Brison Gresham	G	UMass / Houston / Texas Southern	158	2016	2022	N	Y
Justin Hopkins	G	Samford / Texas Southern (2)	158	2016	2022	N	Y
Marreon Jackson	G	Toledo / Arizona State	158	2017	2022	N	Y
Rocky Kreuser	F	North Dakota State	158	2017	2022	N	Y
Jarrod West	G	Marshall / Louisville	158	2017	2022	N	Y
Jamari Wheeler	G	Penn State / Ohio State	158	2017	2022	N	Y
Bryson Williams	G	Fresno State / UTEP / Texas Tech (2)	158	2016	2022	N	Y

Leaders without COVID-19 waiver

All 25 of the overall top 25 is occupied by players who were active in the 2020–21 season and benefited from the COVID-19 waiver. The last players eligible to take advantage of this waiver will not complete their college eligibility until 2024–25, not counting any potential medical redshirt season in 2021–22 or later. For this reason, a separate list consisting solely of players who did not benefit from the waiver is being maintained.

Player	Pos.	Team(s)	Games played	Career start	Career end	Medical redshirt?	Ref.
David Lighty	G/F	Ohio State	157	2006	2011	Y
Jakob Gollon	F	Mercer	154	2008	2014	Y (×2)
Nate Austin	F/C	BYU	153	2011	2016	Y
Josh Perkins	G	Gonzaga	153	2014	2019	Y
Przemek Karnowski	C	Gonzaga (2)	152	2012	2017	Y
Darius Miller	G/F	Kentucky	152	2008	2012	N
Deon Thompson	F	North Carolina	152	2006	2010	N
Nate Britt	G	North Carolina (2)	151	2013	2017	N
Isaiah Hicks	F	North Carolina (3)	151	2013	2017	N
Walter Hodge	G	Florida	151	2005	2009	N
Wayne Turner	G	Kentucky (2)	151	1995	1999	N
Antonio Anderson	F	Memphis	150	2005	2009	N
Nigel Hayes	F	Wisconsin (2)	150	2013	2017	N
Amile Jefferson	F	Duke	150	2012	2017	Y
Patric Young	C/F	Florida (2)	150	2010	2014	N
Joey Dorsey	C	Memphis (2)	149	2004	2008	N
Lamar Patterson	G/F	Pittsburgh	149	2009	2014	Y
Ethan Wragge	F	Creighton	149	2009	2014	Y
Mike Best	F/C	UC Irvine	148	2011	2016	Y
Phil Booth	G	Villanova	148	2014	2019	Y
Aaron Craft	G	Ohio State (2)	148	2010	2014	N
Robert Dozier	F	Memphis (3)	148	2005	2009	N
Josh Gasser	G	Wisconsin (2)	148	2010	2015	N
Brice Johnson	F	North Carolina (4)	148	2012	2016	N
Bronson Koenig	G	Wisconsin (3)	148	2013	2017	N
Christian Laettner	F/C	Duke (2)	148	1988	1992	N
Kyle Singler	F	Duke (3)	148	2007	2011	N

References

General

• "2020–21 NCAA Men's Basketball Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
• "Games Career Leaders and Records". Sports-Reference CBB. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 1, 2022.

Specific