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Over a career that spanned nearly a quarter of a century between college and the NBA, Kyle Korver proved time and again he was one of the best three-point shooters in basketball history. In four seasons at Creighton, he made 371 three-pointers (sixth most in NCAA history at the time he graduated) and hit 100 or more in a season twice. Here’s how absurd that 371 number is: Ethan Wragge is second with 334, and he played in 21 more games (nearly a full season more) to get there. As for making 100 or more in a season? It’s happened four times in CU history. Korver did it twice. Wragge and Baylor Scheierman did it once each. And that’s it.
Not only did he make more threes than anyone else, his three-point shooting percentage was also better than anyone else: His 45.3% career three-point percentage was tops in school history until Booker Woodfox surpassed it in 2009. He remains the all-time school leader in free-throw percentage, making over 89% of his attempts in his career (Fun fact: he missed just 32 free throws in his entire career, going 312-350).
Defensively, Korver spent a lot of his career as the leader of Dana Altman’s full-court press defense, guarding the inbounds pass and often fueling big scoring runs by trapping opponents in the backcourt. 20 years after his time at CU ended, he remains fifth all-time in school history with 172 steals.
He played in four NCAA Tournaments, was part of two MVC Regular Season champions and three MVC Tournament championships, and was the leader of the winningest team in school history, the 2002-03 team that went 29-5.
But ultimately, statistics, game stories and win totals only tell part of the story with him. In six short seasons Creighton went from afterthought to Omaha’s Team, going from struggling to sell tickets at the smaller Civic Auditorium to regularly selling out the new, much bigger Qwest Center. Rodney Buford and Doug Swenson got it started, Ben Walker and Ryan Sears took the program even higher, and by Korver’s senior year, the Jays were at level that would have been hard to fathom six years before.
Consider that the Jays of Chad Gallagher and Bob Harstad never once played before an officially recognized capacity crowd at home; in 1990, there were 3,663 season ticket holders, 660 Jaybackers and the average attendance was 5,566. There were articles in the Omaha World-Herald — and quotes from the coach that didn’t exactly dispel the rumor — that part of the reason Tony Barone bolted when he did was because of the failure of Omahans to fill the arena to watch his teams. By Korver’s senior season in 2002, the Jays had over 6,000 season ticket holders, were nearing 1,000 Jaybackers and averaged 8,246 fans a game — and filled the SIU game in January 2003 to 1,000 OVER capacity. By the tipoff of the next season, 9,050 season tickets had been sold. By the time Doug McDermott enrolled a decade later and became the next Bluejay to elevate the program, Creighton was regularly drawing 17-18,000 to their games. And a decade after that, CU had over 15,000 season ticket holders and ranked in the top 10 nationally for attendance almost every season.
Everyone who came before helped to build it, but there can be no mistaking that Creighton basketball as it exists today was born during the Korver years.
Korver was born in Lakewood, California but spent his childhood growing up in Pella, Iowa. He came from a long line of basketball players: his father, mother and two of his uncles played hoops for Central College in Pella, while another uncle played for Northwestern College in Orange City and later coached them to the 2001 NAIA national title. A fourth uncle played football for the Washington Redskins of the NFL in 1984. And of course, his mother once scored 74 points in a game in high school, a fact seemingly every national writer and TV commentator mentioned at least once when talking about Korver. It was brought up with such ridiculous regularity that it became a running gag (or a drinking game) for many Jays fans.
As for Kyle, he was a first-team Class 3A all-state selection in both his junior and senior years at Pella, and in his senior season, he averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, four steals and four blocks a game for a team that went 21-1. He also played for the Iowa Indians AAU team, which made the Sweet 16 in a field of more than 240 teams at the 1998 Las Vegas Big Time Tournament, and finished second at the 18 & Under Nationals in Orlando. Yet somehow, none of the four D1 schools in Iowa seriously recruited him — other than Creighton, the only schools to offer him a scholarship were Wisconsin-Green Bay and Duquesne — making it easier for Dana Altman to convince him to come to Omaha.
Once at CU, he made an impact right away. His 8.8 scoring average was third on the team, and when combined with 3.1 rebounds a game and a 43.4% three-point percentage, its easy to see how he was named to the MVC All-Newcomer, All-Freshman and All-Bench teams.
On December 12, Korver scored in double figures for the first time, making 5-8 field goals and 3-5 three-pointers en route to a 13-point night as the Jays thrashed Illinois State 82-43. Later that season, he would make his first career start in a game in Normal, and his 15 points on 6-7 shooting helped the Jays earn their first-ever win at Redbird Arena. And from there, he was off and running. He hit 4-7 treys for 16 points and 8 rebounds in a win over Bradley. He made five of nine from long range in a win over Wichita State, adding six rebounds. And in the first round of the MVC Tournament, he made 9-12 from the field, 5-7 from behind the arc and 25 points as the Jays beat Bradley.
Over the summer, Korver worked as hard or harder than anyone to improve his game, and when his sophomore season began in November, the changes were obvious. He was still the sharpshooter from downtown — he made 5-7 three point attempts in the season opener — but it was the other parts of his game where the improvement showed. Those changes were on display in the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament, where Korver earned his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in a 66-59 win over Rollie Massimino’s Cleveland State team. The next night, he scored 17 points with 8 rebounds in a win over Providence to earn all-tournament honors.
His second career double-double came two weeks later against a good Colorado State team, as Korver scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Three days later, Korver narrowly missed another when he had 14 points and 9 rebounds against Lefty Driesell’s Georgia State club. He was named MVC Player of the Week for the first time after those two games, an award he would win with regularity the remainder of his career. For an encore, he recorded his third double-double against Nebraska with 22 points, 13 rebounds and four steals in the Jays 62-51 win, which was their first win in Lincoln since 1932.
When MVC play rolled around, he put up 16 points and 7 rebounds in the opener against Wichita State, a 74-64 win. Then he made 7-10 field goals for 22 points against Illinois State, 17 points and 6 assists in a win over Bradley, and in an ESPN showdown with Southern Illinois, had 14 points and 8 rebounds in the 77-63 win. And in the MVC Tournament, he scored 22 points — making 6 of 8 three-pointers — and had six assists in the loss to Indiana State. He also struggled mightily in the NCAA Tournament, taking 13 shots, all of them from behind the arc, and making just two in a loss to Iowa.
For the season, he earned second-team All-Valley honors after averaging 14.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game. He started all 32 contests, was the team’s leading scorer 14 times, led the team in steals 10 times and in rebounding eight times. His 45.2% percentage from three-point range was second in the MVC and 12th in the nation, and he ranked 21st nationally by making an average of 3.1 threes a game. It was quite a sophomore campaign, but he was just getting started.
Korver’s junior year was astounding, despite missing two weeks with an injury. He was named MVC Player of the Year, MVP of the Valley tournament, and was first team All-MVC and a member of the All-Tournament team. He was named to the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major All-American team, and an Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press. He ranked in the top 15 of the MVC in 11 of the 12 possible individual categories. He ranked 12th nationally in free throw percentage, making 89% of his throws. He led the Jays in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, minutes and three-pointers, and led the MVC in steals per game and free throw percentage.
The team was replacing both Ben Walker and Ryan Sears and defending a regular season MVC crown, yet behind Korver’s brilliance, they shared the league title and won the MVC Tournament while having a nearly identical record as the year before (14-4 in the league both years; 24-9 in 2000-01 and 23-9 in 2001-02). After starting 5-2, Korver injured his knee in practice on December 13 and had arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee; he was initially supposed to miss 3-4 weeks, but his legendary work ethic got him back on the court in two.
He missed three games. Unfortunately, two of the games he missed were the rematch with 17th ranked Western Kentucky (the first game in Omaha, with Korver, the Jays won 94-91 in two overtimes; in the rematch without him, they were blown off the court 95-61) and a home game with Xavier that they also lost, 72-65. But when he returned, he returned with a vengeance: in just 11 minutes against Mississippi Valley State, he nearly recorded a double-double with 12 points and 8 rebounds. And from that point on, there was no stopping him.
Korver scored 20 or more points 10 times, including 28 points on 12-12 free throws in a win over Grambling State; 24 points on 8-9 shooting in a win over Illinois State; 27 points on 5-9 shooting from behind the arc in a win over Bradley; and a combined 49 points and 9 three-pointers in two heartbreaking losses to Southern Illinois. He would get his revenge against the Salukis, though; in the MVC title game, he scored 18 points with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and a block in the Jays 84-76 victory. In the NCAA Tournament, he scored 16 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists in the win over Florida, fouling out late in the first of two overtimes and leaving the heroics for Terrell Taylor. And two days later against Illinois, he had a better game than you likely remember: on a disappointing day for the team he scored 14 points and made 3-5 three pointers in the 72-60 loss.
It had been a remarkable junior season. Yet that summer, he continued working harder, getting stronger and improving his game again. Given what he’d accomplished already, what in the world would he do as a senior?
For starters, he won his second consecutive MVC Player of the Year award, and was Player of the Week four times. He was a second-team All-American as voted on by the Associated Press. He was MVP of the Guardians Classic, and MVP of the Valley tournament, as well as being on the All-Tournament teams in both tourneys. And among a litany of other awards and honors, he was named Midseason Player of the Year by Dick Vitale. He led the Jays in points scored, points per game, steals, rebounds, rebounds per game, field goals, three-pointers and minutes, and he was second on the team in assists. And he led the team in points 23 times, in rebounding 17 times, in steals 13 times and in assists 11 times.
The team went 29-5 and was ranked in the Top 25 most of the season, and it was Korver who provided the ridiculous heroics night in and night out. It certainly got the attention of Dick Vitale, who went on at length during an ESPN telecast about Korver:
“Georgetown forward Mike Sweetney, the Hoyas’ leading scorer and rebounder, certainly has got a shot for Player of the Year, but right now if I had to vote today, my first ballot would go, and I know it would probably surprise some people, but if I voted today, I’m going to Creighton and Kyle Korver. He has been sensational all year. They’ve got one tough loss, a deuce to Xavier. He has been incredible. Right there at 1-A would be Mr. Korver and 1-B would be Dwyane Wade out of Marquette.”
In their two biggest non-conference games of the season, Korver came up large. In the championship of the Guardians Classic, he had 24 points and 10 rebounds to go with 7 three-pointers in a win over a Notre Dame team that would also spend most of the year rated. And against Xavier on New Years Eve, he had a one-on-one duel with David West for the ages — a game I wrote about at length on my old blog. That matchup between #15 CU and #19 Xavier saw Korver score 32 points on 8-13 from behind the arc, while West had 28 points and 11 rebounds. Seriously, go read about that game and then come back. Now.
Two weeks later, he would break his own newly-minted record for threes in a game, set in that Xavier game, by making NINE in a game against Evansville on a bitterly cold January night in Omaha. Later that month, more than 1,000 fans over capacity stood in stairways, hallways, aisles and anywhere else they could get a glimpse from, as 10,184 fans packed into the Civic Auditorium (listed capacity: 9,377) to see the nationally-televised duel between Southern Illinois and #13 Creighton. It was the fifth-largest crowd in Civic history, and the most in three decades; some older fans might claim to have heard crowds as loud as the one that day in the old building, but there could not have been one louder. When Korver drained the fourth of his second-half three-pointers, you could practically feel the building shake. You might say that the 85-76 win marked the birth of Creighton hoops as we know it today; the bandwagon swelled immensely following that win, and has not stopped growing since.
In February against Fresno State in the inaugural BracketBuster, before the event was a joke and back when it actually matched up good teams against one another, Korver lifted the Jays to a hard-fought win over a solid Bulldog team with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, connecting on seven three-pointers. It was another rowdy crowd in the Civic, as both Jay Bilas and Andy Katz made the trek from Bristol to cover the game for ESPN.
But the season’s highest point, the MVC championship game throttling of SIU, was also a perfect example of how complete a player Korver had become. Faced with a Saluki defense intent on stopping him, he still managed to score 12 points, though he attempted just five shots in 35 minutes. But he grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out 6 assists, had 2 steals and a block, managing to dominate the game even without an explosive offensive show. The 80-55 blowout gave the Korver Era a third MVC Tournament title and fourth NCAA Tournament bid.
Korver went on to play 18 seasons in the NBA and scored just shy of 12,000 points (11,953). He ranks eighth all-time for most three-pointers made and tenth all-time in three-point shooting percentage. He holds the franchise record for best single-season three-point percentage for two different teams (Atlanta and Utah) and owns Atlanta’s best career three-point shooting percentage. He’s the only player in league history to lead the NBA in three-point shooting percentage four times. And he still owns the NBA record for highest three-point shooting percentage in a single season — 53.6% in 2009-10 for the Jazz. A 2015 NBA All-Star during a season where he averaged 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists for the Jazz, Korver went on to play in back-to-back NBA Finals with the LeBron James-led Cavaliers.