On Thursday, history can be achieved if Antoine Davisstar of Detroit Mercy, scored 26 points in his team’s game against Youngstown State in the Horizon League quarterfinals (8 p.m. ET on ESPN+) and surpassed “Pistol” Pete Maravich on the scoring list. in career. He needs 25 points to finish.
For generations, Maravich’s record of 3,667 points over three seasons at LSU always seemed too difficult to chase. After all, he did it with an average of 44.2 points per game without the 3-point line. (It’s worth noting, however, that in the men’s and women’s first round, Kelsey Plum fell 140 points behind him in four seasons at Washington.)
But the additional year granted to all players because of COVID has allowed Davis, who currently has 3,642 points in his career, to return to Detroit Mercy for the fifth season. He has averaged 25.5 PPG over his 5 seasons, including the NCAA record for career 3-pointers (584 and growing).
In women’s college basketball, Kelsey Plum – who played in Washington – set a women’s record with 3,527 points, then surpassed Jackie Stiles.
Davis respects Maravich and his record. He never thought he’d come close to breaking it, but he recently told ESPN that he’s grateful for the experience.
“Yes, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t [think about Maravich’s record]”, Davis told ESPN after moving to No. 2 earlier this season. “It’s a huge achievement. At the end of the day, 2nd place with 3,274 points is something that has never been done, so I just play, have fun and enjoy this.”
Here are five things to know about Davis as he tries to break the Division I career scoring record.
He almost left his father’s school last summer
In Detroit, Davis was coached by his father, Mike Davis. That relationship has helped him grow as a player. However, last summer, he joined the portal and spoke to many schools, including BYU and Maryland, because he wanted to prove himself against high-level competition. However, he decided to stay in Detroit and try to lead the program to its first NCAA tournament in over a decade. “I just felt that it wouldn’t be right to play somewhere else or end my career somewhere at a big school, even though that’s what I really wanted to do,” he told ESPN. . “I feel like I made the right decision. I love the team we have. I love this university so much. They’ve treated me so well since the first day I stepped foot on campus.”
He used to watch Maravich’s videos when he was a kid
As a young player, Davis learned about Maravich through YouTube. Maravich’s training videos, which show the Hall of Famer dribbling between his legs and around his back, have become a role model for Davis, who has attempted similar moves in his game. “I didn’t take anything away from Pistol Pete,” he said. “He’s a great goalscorer. And my dad always told me what a great goalscorer he is. … I’ve heard a lot about Pistol Pete. I’ve always known about him. .”
He respects criticism of his potential record
Davis knows a lot of people will put an asterisk next to his achievement, if he gets it, because he’s got another season of college. But he says his record deserves recognition, too. Davis has 2,961 goals in his career and Maravich has 3,166, although the 3-point line also influenced the conversation around the record. “The [fifth year] It helps a lot,” Davis said. “I’m considering [Maravich’s] stats and my dad is watching [Maravich’s] stats from his college years, the three years he played, and there wasn’t a year he didn’t shoot more than 35 shots per game in his three years there. I shoot a lot, but I don’t shoot 35 shots per game, if that makes sense. … These are all my scores with no extra games played [in the NCAA tournament]That’s unheard of.”
He will enter the NCAA tournament surpassing Maravich’s record
Davis is getting a lot of attention for his pursuit of NCAA scoring, but he says he would give it all up for the chance to get his team into the NCAA tournament for the first time in his career. “I will choose my team in the NCAA tournament [over the record]”Davis said.” That’s what I’ve always wanted to be a part of: participating in the NCAA tournament. When my dad was in Texas Southern (2012-18), they ran that convention (SWAC) and they always went to the NCAA tournament and I always had to go with them. I experienced it from the audience’s point of view. I really want to be a part of something like that. If I had to choose between those two things, I would definitely choose to do it with the team we have and go to the tournament instead of just breaking the scoring record.”
He is honored even to be mentioned among the greats
Davis says he has never set his sights on beating Maravich’s record but he is also delighted that, many years from now, he will still be respected as one of the game’s top opponents. “My name will be in here forever,” he said. “As I get older and have kids, this is something I can tell my kids about. So this is something really special.”
