How to Keep Basketball Stats: A Coach's Guide

Keeping stats is the easiest way to coach from facts instead of feelings. The kid you think is your best rebounder might be third on the team. The lineup you trust might be losing every stretch it plays. You won't know until somebody writes it down.

I've kept stats every way there is: a paper book on the bench, a spreadsheet at midnight with game film, and now an app I built myself. Here's what actually works, whether you're doing it with a pencil or a phone.

The Book vs. Your Stats

These are two different jobs, and mixing them up causes most of the arguments at the scorer's table.

The official book (the scoresheet, if you play in Australia or anywhere under FIBA rules) is the game record. It tracks the running score, each player's points and fouls, team fouls and timeouts. The officials go by it, and it settles any dispute about the score or who has four fouls.

Your stats are for you. They're everything the book doesn't track: misses, rebounds, assists, turnovers, steals. They're how you figure out why you won or lost, and they're what goes to MaxPreps and your end-of-year awards.

If you can, have one person keep the book and a different person keep stats. Trying to do both at once is how both end up wrong.

The Stats Worth Keeping

You can track 60 things if you want, but these 14 cover almost every decision you'll make as a coach. This is the same box score you see on TV.

If that's too much for one person during a game, start with shots, free throws, rebounds and turnovers. Those four tell you most of the story.

How to Keep Stats on Paper

Grab my free printable stat sheet or draw your own: one row per player, one column per stat.

1. Set up before tip-off

Write every player's name and jersey number down the left side, in number order, so you can find them fast. Put a quarter marker at the top so you can split stats by quarter later.

2. Use tally marks for counting stats

Rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls are just tally marks in the player's row. Don't add anything up during the game. You'll lose your place.

3. Track shots as made and missed

For shots, mark every attempt. A common system: draw a circle for a miss and fill it in for a make, in the 2-point, 3-point or free throw column. At the end, filled circles are makes and all circles are attempts.

4. Mark the quarter

Draw a line across the sheet at the end of each quarter. It takes two seconds and tells you which quarter you lost.

5. Check against the scoreboard

At every timeout and break, add up your points and compare them to the scoreboard. If they don't match, you missed a basket or a free throw, and it's much easier to fix right then than after the game.

Shorthand That Saves Time

Whoever keeps stats needs to keep their eyes on the floor. Short codes help:

• Jersey numbers, not names. "23 reb" is faster than finding the name.
• O and D for rebounds. Mark which kind as you tally.
• A team row. A rebound or turnover nobody owns goes in a "team" row.
• Say it out loud. If someone is next to you, call the play ("14 miss, 3 board") and let them write.

Foul Rules to Track (High School and FIBA)

Whoever keeps the book has to know when a team is in the bonus. The good news: since 2023-24, US high school rules and FIBA rules (used in Australia and most of the world) count team fouls the same way.

• Team fouls reset every quarter. Start a fresh count at the top of each quarter.
• The fifth team foul in a quarter means two free throws. From then on, every non-shooting foul by that team sends the other team to the line for two. There is no one-and-one anymore.
• Overtime is part of the fourth quarter. Team fouls carry over from the fourth into overtime instead of resetting.
• Five personal fouls and you're out. Same in both. Track each player's fouls by quarter so you can see foul trouble coming.

The main difference is the clock: US high school quarters are 8 minutes and FIBA quarters are 10. That matters when you compare per-game numbers between leagues.

After the Game: Totals and Percentages

Add up every column. Then figure the numbers that matter:

• Points = 2 x field goals made + 3-pointers made + free throws made. (3-pointers are already in the field goals, so this adds the extra point for each one.)
• Field goal % = field goals made / field goals attempted x 100. 6 for 15 is 40%.
• 3-point % and free throw % work the same way.
• Rebounds = offensive + defensive.
• Assist-to-turnover ratio = assists / turnovers, for your guards.

Keep a running total for the season, too. One game is noise; ten games is a pattern.

Keeping Stats From Game Film

If nobody can keep stats during the game, film it and do it after. It's actually more accurate, because you can rewind. The trick is to keep the film moving: don't pause for every play, and log stats as fast as you can without stopping. I walk through my whole routine in how I track a full game from film in 20 minutes.

Common Mistakes

• Not counting threes as field goals. A made 3 is a made field goal and a made 3-pointer. If you only count it once, your field goal numbers are wrong.
• Only writing down makes. Without misses you can't figure percentages, and percentages are the point.
• Doing the math during the game. Tally now, add later.
• One person keeping the book and stats. Something gets missed. Split the jobs.
• Not checking the score. Compare to the scoreboard every break.

Or Use an App

Paper works, but the adding up afterward is where the hours go. That's why I built CourtBook: tap a player, tap a stat, and the box score, percentages and season averages are done the moment the game ends. It's free, works on any phone, tablet or laptop, and exports to MaxPreps for US schools. If you want to compare it with the other options, here's my honest look at the best basketball stat tracker apps for coaches.

Common Questions

How do you keep stats in basketball?

Give one person the stat sheet and nothing else to do. For every possession, mark who shot, whether it was a 2 or a 3 and whether it went in, plus every free throw, rebound, assist, steal, block, turnover and foul, by player and by quarter. At the end, total each column and figure the percentages.

What stats should a high school basketball coach keep?

The core box score: field goals made and attempted, 3-pointers made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, offensive and defensive rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, fouls and points. Those cover almost every decision you'll make.

How do you keep the book in basketball?

The official book records the running score, each player's points and fouls, team fouls and timeouts. Write the roster and numbers in before tip-off, cross off each new score on the running score as it happens, and mark fouls next to the player's name.

How many team fouls before free throws in high school basketball?

Under NFHS rules, team fouls reset every quarter, and the fifth team foul in a quarter sends the other team to the line for two shots. Overtime counts as part of the fourth quarter. The one-and-one was dropped starting with the 2023-24 season.

How do you keep stats in Australian basketball?

The same way. Basketball in Australia is played under FIBA rules, and the stats are identical: makes and attempts for 2s, 3s and free throws, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls. The official record is called the scoresheet, quarters are 10 minutes, and the fifth team foul in a quarter means two free throws.

How do you calculate field goal percentage?

Divide field goals made by field goals attempted and multiply by 100. A player who goes 6 for 15 shoots 40%. Free throw and 3-point percentage work the same way.

Do 3-pointers count as field goals?

Yes. A made 3 counts as a made field goal and a made 3-pointer, and a missed 3 counts as a field goal attempt and a 3-point attempt. Forgetting this is the most common reason box scores don't add up.

Foul rules: MaxPreps on the NFHS rule change and the FIBA rule book.

Coach Martin runs a high school basketball program in Louisiana and built courtbook.net because he was tired of spreadsheets. Got a question? Hit the contact form.