Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes Breaks Her Freshman Scoring Record With 55-Point Game

Vanderbilt freshman Mikayla Blakes is turning heads with her record-breaking scoring performance on Sunday.

Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes (1) celebrates after defeating Tennessee at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

JuJu Watkins received a ton of attention and acclaim during her freshman season with the USC Trojans in 2023-24 — and for good reason.

Given that she had never played college basketball before, Watkins' extremely developed offensive skillset made her look like a polished professional, despite being only 18 years old.

And performances such as when she scored 51 points against Stanford on February 2, 2024 (which set the NCAA record for the most points a freshman has scored in a single D-1 game) only heightened her profile.

But that otherworldly performance from Watkins pales in comparison to what Vanderbilt freshman Mikayla Blakes did on Sunday.

Blakes scored 55 points on 15-28 shooting from the field and a staggering 23-24 from the free-throw line during her team's 98-88 win over the Auburn Tigers. This performance set a new record for the most points a freshman has ever scored in a NCAA D-1 game.

MIKAYLA BLAKES. 55 POINTS‼️

THE NEW D-I FRESHMAN SCORING RECORD 🔥 @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/B8B1gx6h68

— ESPN (@espn) February 16, 2025

And Blakes broke her own record, which she set by scoring 53 points during her team's January 30 game against Florida (which broke the record that Watkins set one year prior). After Sunday's game, Blakes is now averaging 21.8 points per game, but that stat seems likely to increase in the future if Blakes keeps her current form up.

The current sentiment among some is that UConn Huskies superstar freshman Sarah Strong has the NCAA Freshman of the Year Award locked up. However, some are now saying that Blakes should be considered the frontrunner.

Mikayla Blakes had 55 points today.

Freshman of the Year race is over, in my opinion. Give it to her.

— Talia Goodman (@TaliaGoodmanWBB) February 16, 2025

Blakes will face off against the South Carolina Gamecocks on February 23. Given that Strong scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in UConn's win over South Carolina on Sunday, it will be interesting to see what sort of performance Blakes can put together against the defending National Champions.