Antoine Davis scored 38 points for Detroit Mercy in a Horizon League first-round tournament win over Purdue Fort-Wayne. The win extended Detroit Mercy's season, and Davis' college career. It also gave Davis a chance to break the all-time NCAA record for career points. As the Titans head into Thursday's game against top-seeded Youngstown State, Davis needs 26 points to surpass Pistol Pete Maravich atop the leaderboard.
Davis, unquestionably, is an elite scorer. The son of former Indiana, UAB, and Texas Southern coach Mike Davis, Antoine already holds the NCAA record for most made three-pointers. Over his career, he's averaged 25.5 points per game, good for 12th all-time among NCAA players. He leads the nation in scoring this season, with 28.4 ppg. The slender 6'1" dude can fill it up.
No, we're not here to question Antoine Davis' bona fides. Rather, we're here to marvel at the guy he might surpass.
Pete Maravich was one of a kind. He only played three years of NCAA basketball, because the rules didn't permit freshman to compete on the varsity level when he was at LSU. (Because of the pandemic, Davis will wind up having played five years of collegiate hoops.) Maravich managed to score 3,667 points during that abbreviated span, averaging a mind-boggling 44.2 points per game in an era where the three-point shot didn't exist. For good measure, he added 6.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.
The tallies only tell a little bit of the story. Pete Maravich was light years ahead of his time. His ball skills, court vision, and ability to score from angles previously incomprehensible are all legendary. Magic Johnson said of his own flamboyant handle, "[Pete's] where I got it from".
Maravich was a captivating pro player, as well, though a combination of mid-career knee injuries and generally shitty teams served to muffle the legend a bit. Nonetheless, he averaged 24.4 points across ten NBA seasons, the last four of which were curtailed due to injury. He led the league in scoring in 1976-77 with the New Orleans Jazz, a fitting team and town for a showman like the Pistol. Tiny Archibald said of Maravich, "my most difficult opponent, as far as one on one".
Modern stats don't love him, and it's true that Pete was a volume shooter. But he still dished out 5.4 assists a game (usually to less-talented teammates) and snagged 1.4 steals. He never made an NBA Finals appearance, making it to the Eastern Conference finals with the Celtics as a bench player in his last season.
Pistol Pete died playing basketball in 1988 at the impossibly young age of 40.
So let's celebrate Antoine Davis' spectacular college career. And while we're doing so, maybe a tip of the cap to the guy that changed the game forever.
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