A Howard University junior with Richmond connections is the NCAA’s leading basketball scorer.

James Daniel III starred at Phoebus High School in Hampton and played offseason AAU ball for Richmond-based Team Loaded.

As of Feb. 2, Daniel was averaging 27.5 points per game for the Bisons, which are in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The 5-foot-11, 165-pounder is dangerous from long range (56 three-pointers) and at the foul line (189-219, .863).

Daniel, who had more than 1,000 points his first two seasons at Howard, scored a season high 39 points in the team’s victory this season over The College of William & Mary.

At Phoebus, Daniel played for his father, Coach James Daniel Jr., and was lightly recruited. Only Howard University and College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts offered full rides.

Howard will play at Hampton University on Feb. 27, at Norfolk State University on Feb. 29 and in the MEAC tournament at Norfolk Scope beginning March 7.

Howard has produced just one NBA player, Larry Spriggs, who played with Houston, Chicago and the LA Lakers from 1982 to 1986.

The NCAA Division I’s first African-American scoring champion was Oscar Robertson, who averaged 35.1 points per game in 1958 as a player for the University of Cincinnati. He went on to an illustrious career in the NBA with the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks from 1960 to 1974.