Louisiana State University guard Pete Maravich entered the Tigers’ dwelling sport in opposition to Mississippi on Jan. 31, 1970, needing 40 factors to interrupt Oscar Robertson’s main faculty basketball scoring report. With 14 video games remaining within the common season and Maravich averaging 47.6 factors per sport, it was a matter of when, not whether or not, Pistol Pete would surpass the Big O’s mark.
Before the sport, LSU Coach Press Maravich joked that his son ought to “average three points the rest of the way” and break the report within the closing sport of the common season.
“He told me he didn’t want to disappoint the fans,” Press Maravich mentioned after Pete scored 53 factors in opposition to the Rebels to cross Robertson, who scored 2,973 factors in 88 video games at Cincinnati from 1958 to 1960.
Maravich started his senior season in 14th place on the all-time scoring checklist. He scored 55 factors in a loss to Kentucky on Jan. 24 to cross Elvin Hayes for second place. Two days later, he was restricted to 29 factors in a win over Tennessee, leaving him 39 factors behind Robertson.
Maravich tied Robertson’s mark with eight minutes remaining within the second half. As the overflow crowd on the John M. Parker Agricultural Coliseum, which was affectionately often called the “Cow Palace,” chanted “One more! One more! One more!” Maravich proceeded to overlook his subsequent 5 pictures. He lastly broke the report with a one-handed jumper from the precise wing with 4:41 to play.
“I wasn’t really conscious of it, but I may have been,” Maravich informed reporters afterward, when requested if he was urgent. “Actually I thought I had broken the record with the tying field goal because of the way the crowd was roaring, but when they kept it up I knew I had to hit another one. These are the greatest fans in the world.”
Members of the group, cops, reporters, photographers and cheerleaders ran onto the court docket after Maravich’s shot swished by means of the online. LSU’s Al Sanders and Bob Lang lifted Maravich up on their shoulders and carried him to midcourt, the place he was introduced the sport ball and accepted congratulations from his teammates because the followers who remained at their seats gave him a standing ovation.
“Look, we’ve still got to finish the game,” Maravich yelled over the group’s chants of “Pete! Pete! Pete! Pete!” in accordance with the Associated Press.
“Pete, what was the shot that did it?” a reporter requested Maravich in the course of the ensuing stoppage, which lasted greater than 5 minutes.
“That last shot did it,” Maravich mentioned matter of factly. “It went through, didn’t it?”
With greater than 1,000 college students who couldn’t get into the sport watching on closed-circuit tv within the pupil union, LSU cruised to a 109-86 win after the court docket was cleared and play resumed.
“I really don’t think I can express it in words,” Maravich mentioned afterward. “Right now I’m a little shook. It’s the greatest honor to come to me, breaking the record of someone of Oscar Robertson’s stature. I think he’s probably the greatest basketball player ever and I think I’m fortunate to break it.”
“I never dreamed it would happen,” Press Maravich mentioned. “I never thought he would break the record tonight. The pressure on Pete this week has been tremendous. I didn’t see how he could keep from caving in with all of this buildup. He has had calls from all over the nation this week. People from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, some of the Midwestern states, everywhere, have been calling all week, wanting to know about the record. I’ve never seen heavier pressure on any one athlete in all my career.”
Among these not shocked by Maravich’s efficiency was legendary St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca.
“You talk of Jerry West or Oscar Robertson or any of those great ones who scored and passed so well. Maravich is better,” Carnesecca informed the New York Times two weeks earlier. “He’s a show. Pistol Pete put on the greatest performance for a limited time that I have ever seen when we played him.”
Maravich scored 40 of his 53 factors within the second half of LSU’s 80-70 win over St. John’s on the Rainbow Classic in late December.
“The more men we put on him the better he got,” Carnesecca recalled. “He’s got a whole bag of tricks. He passes under his legs at full speed, pops the ball in from 25 feet and out and even passes by punching the ball with his wrist. Ever seen that?”
Maravich scored 53 factors on 21-for-46 capturing in opposition to Mississippi, and likewise had 12 assists.
“I’ve played and worked at this game every day of my life ever since I can remember and I’ve had the best father and coach anyone could want helping me along,” Maravich mentioned after breaking the report. “I’m just happy it has all been worthwhile.”
Maravich completed his faculty profession with 3,667 factors over 83 video games, a exceptional 44.2-point common that can by no means be touched. He achieved the feat earlier than freshmen had been eligible and with out the advantage of the three-point line, which the NCAA didn’t universally undertake till 1986. (The lack of a three-point line on the court docket as a degree of reference may assist clarify why completely different newspaper accounts describe the gap of Maravich’s record-breaking shot as wherever from 15 to 23 toes.)
Shortly after his son handed Robertson, Press Maravich was requested whether or not he thought the brand new mark would someday be eclipsed.
“Yes, I do,” he replied. “In the first place records are made to be broken. I think someday — I don’t know how soon — some of these young kids will come along and score the points. But Pete’s name will be in the record books for the next 30 to 40 years. I won’t be around to see it, but someone will break it.”
Press Maravich died at 71 in 1987. Pete, who averaged 24.2 factors per sport over 10 NBA seasons, died lower than a 12 months later after collapsing throughout a pickup sport. An post-mortem revealed Maravich, 40, had a uncommon and undiagnosed congenital coronary heart defect.
Until this season, Portland State’s Freeman Williams, who scored 3,249 factors in 106 video games from 1975 to 1978, was the closest challenger to Maravich’s Division I report. Robertson, who scored 2,973 factors in 88 video games at Cincinnati, now ranks twelfth on the all-time checklist.
Davis, the nation’s main scorer, was restricted to 7-for-26 capturing in opposition to Youngstown State and missed a three-pointer within the closing seconds that might have tied Maravich’s mark. Unless Detroit Mercy receives an invite to the College Basketball Invitational or the match previously often called the CollegeInsider.com match, Thursday marked the 143rd and closing sport of Davis’s collegiate profession.
