In Simpson’s season opener against Bethany Lutheran, Conor Riordan surpassed the 1,000 career points milestone with a 22-point performance. 

Riordan became the 21st player to eclipse the mark of 1,000 points and the first player to do so since Sam Amsbaugh finished out his career with 1,489 points. 

Through the first five games of the season, Riordan has gotten his scoring total up to 1,072 career points which ranks at 15th all-time in the Simpson record books. 

This milestone is just another accolade Riordan can add to his legacy at Simpson. Adding a 1,000 point club membership to go with a trip to Brazil on the USA D-III Basketball Select National Team and back-to-back first-team all-conference honors is making for quite the basketball resume.

“It’s pretty cool, it’s a testament to the work I put in during the offseason,” Riordan said. “It’s also a testament to the coaching staff because they trusted me to be a leader for this team and put me in situations where I can score and succeed on the court.”

Riordan has grown from a player who averaged 5.2 points per game as a freshman, to being selected as one of the ten best players in Division III basketball. 

Hard work and repetition in the offseason and practice is what ultimately got him to the point where he is now. 

“I think it’s just been constant repetition. I think I can score in a variety of ways,” Riordan said. “Whether it’s getting to the rim or if it’s shooting threes, I’ve put in a lot of repetition to get better all-around.”

All of this repetition earned him a reputation as one of the best players in the sport right now and earned him a spot in Brazil. The week in Brazil was not only a positive experience for Riordan, but also for the Storm as a whole. 

“It helped with [my] confidence knowing that I can play with those guys,” said Riordan. “It helped with leadership, I had a week to meet nine guys, being thrown into that situation you had to learn how to communicate and develop some new leadership characteristics.”

The leadership traits Riordan learned in South America have been carried back to Indianola where the feel around the Simpson program is different. 

“We have seven seniors in our program,” Riordan said. “We have seen it all and been through it. Our seniors are committed to achieving our goals together. The overall buy-in I’ve seen is a huge difference.”

From an individual standpoint, Riordan has accomplished all that you can. He is more focused on what the team can accomplish in his final season in a Simpson uniform.

“I’m not too worried about the record too much to be honest,” Riordan said. “I’m more concerned about how far this team can go, because I think we have a special group.”

Riordan could continue to rack up personal honors and continue to jump up in the record books, but at the end of the day, that isn’t what matters to him. 

“I want to be someone who is remembered for playing the right way and giving it all for this program,” Riordan said.

The Storm will begin conference play against Dubuque at home on Nov. 26.