His Twitter handle is as good as they come: "DarthBader3," a takeoff of "Star Wars" character Darth Vader.
Travis Bader scored a career-best 47 points Thursday night for Oakland University -- the most by any player in a Division I game this season -- while making a school-record 11 3-pointers.
The previous high this season in college basketball was a 42-point game by BYU's Tyler Haws.
Hot, hotter, hottest.
That was Bader, who led Oakland U., a Summit League team from Rochester, Mich., to an 89-71 victory at home over IUPUI.
He made 15 of 24 field-goal attempts, including 11 of 18 beyond the arc, and was perfect on six free throws while playing all 40 minutes.
Bader's performance was quickly recognized by both Detroit Pistons rookie Andre Drummond, who tweeted to him, "good game bro way to light em up," and by ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, whose Twitter message read, "Strong, Travis, strong."
Bader, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound fourth-year junior, leads the nation with 94 3-pointers this season. He also has the nation's longest streak with a triple in 42 straight games.
Appropriately, Bader wears No. 3 for the Golden Grizzlies.
His sharpshooting came five days after he was held to two points in the second half while missing all seven 3-point attempts in a 19-point home loss to South Dakota.
Bader was still kicking himself Thursday for his comments after that one.
"I said something really stupid like 'I let them get in my head,'" Bader told reporters during Thursday's postgame news conference. "That was probably the dumbest thing I've ever said.
"I'm the only person who can get in my head."
This time, he was getting in the other team's head, although Bader credited his teammates for setting tough screens to get him open looks.
"I just came out here shooting," said Bader, who has played more minutes than any player in the nation since 2009-10. "I just came out here doing what I do in practice -- putting up shots."
Bader is the son of Richard Bader, a former Michigan State swimming/diving coach who also spent eight years as the director of basketball operations for coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans.
Oakland U. coach Greg Kampe failed to even recognize Bader's big game during his opening remarks. Talk about burying the lead. Kampe was most concerned that his struggling team, 9-13 for the season now, got back on track with a much-needed victory.
The coach eventually did get around to acknowledging the shooting spree, although he was quick to point out that Bader's .611 3-point shooting percentage Thursday didn't even match his 10-for-12 game (.833) against South Dakota State last season.
"A lot of guys did a great job to get him open," Kampe said. "They recognized that it was his night and everything was going.
"Maybe two times did he go get a basket by himself. The rest of it came out of the offense and off screens and great passes. That's what I like about his performance."
Bader will try to keep the hot hand going Saturday against Western Illinois, when Kampe has a chance to collect his 500th career victory. The game will be televised locally by Fox Sports Detroit beginning at 5 p.m.
CLICK HERE to watch highlights of Bader's big game.
