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.

Through the 2024–25 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.

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

Includes ties for 25th.

Player Pos. Team(s) Games played Career start Career end Medicalredshirt? COVIDwaiver? Ref. G Iowa 179 2016 2022 G North Carolina 175 2020 2025 G North Carolina (2) /Arizona 174 2020 2025 G Kansas 173 2020 2025 F Houston 173 2020 2025 G Lipscomb /Morehead State /Indiana State 173 2018 2024 G Illinois /DePaul /Iowa State /Kansas (2) 172 2015 2022 F Charleston /Wofford /USC 172 2016 2022 G George Mason /Georgia /Arizona (2) 170 2016 2022 G Ohio /Alabama 170 2020 2025 C / F North Carolina (3) 169 2019 2024 G Texas A&M /UConn 169 2019 2024 F Purdue /Duke 169 2019 2024 F Syracuse /Oregon /Illinois (2) 169 2019 2024 C Creighton 169 2020 2025 F Samford /Ole Miss /North Texas 168 2018 2024 F / C Morehead State (2) /Auburn 168 2020 2025 G Liberty 168 2018 2023 G Utah State /Creighton (2) 167 2020 2025 F North Carolina (4) /Mississippi State 167 2017 2022 F Arkansas /Houston (2) 167 2018 2023 G Clemson 167 2019 2025 F Kansas (3) 167 2016 2022 F Mississippi State (2) 167 2020 2025 G Purdue (2) /Colorado State 167 2020 2025 G Drake 167 2018 2023 G Colorado State (2) /Missouri /Wisconsin 167 2019 2025

Leaders without COVID-19 waiver The overall top 25 is completely 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.

Includes ties for 25th.

Player Pos. Team(s) Games played Career start Career end Medicalredshirt? Ref. G/F Ohio State 157 2006 2011 F Mercer 154 2008 2014 (×2) F/C BYU 153 2011 2016 G Gonzaga 153 2014 2019 C Gonzaga (2) 152 2012 2017 G/F Kentucky 152 2008 2012 F North Carolina 152 2006 2010 G North Carolina (2) 151 2013 2017 F North Carolina (3) 151 2013 2017 G Florida 151 2005 2009 G Kentucky (2) 151 1995 1999 F Memphis 150 2005 2009 F Wisconsin 150 2013 2017 F Duke 150 2012 2017 C/F Florida (2) 150 2010 2014 C Memphis (2) 149 2004 2008 G/F Pittsburgh 149 2009 2014 F Creighton 149 2009 2014 F/C UC Irvine 148 2011 2016 G Villanova 148 2014 2019 G Ohio State (2) 148 2010 2014 F Memphis (3) 148 2005 2009 G Wisconsin (2) 148 2010 2015 F North Carolina (4) 148 2012 2016 G Wisconsin (3) 148 2013 2017 F/C Duke (2) 148 1988 1992 F Duke (3) 148 2007 2011

Footnotes

References General

Specific