Shatterproof: Loud and Proud NCAA Standards Never to Be Duplicated (#4)

June 30th, 2020 - 13:59

What are the school and individual records that will never come close to being matched, let along exceeded? In ensuing blogs, CollegeHoopedia.com will designate the ultimate team and individual standards of excellence. Records were made to be broken, but perhaps not always in our lifetime. Following is #4 in the countdown of most illustrious NCAA achievements:

4. Pete Maravich's career scoring average of 44.2 points per game with a total of 28 contests scoring at least 50 points (for Louisiana State from 1967-68 through 1969-70).

"Pistol Pete" set NCAA single-season records for most points (1,381) and highest average (44.5), finishing his career with NCAA career marks for most points (3,667) and highest average (44.2). He also established an NCAA record for most successful free throws in a game when he converted 30 of 31 foul shots at Oregon State. Maravich, who broke Oscar Robertson's NCAA career scoring mark with 13 regular-season games remaining, is the only player in NCAA Division I history to score more than 1,000 points and average over 40 points per game in each of three seasons.

Maravich's statistics would have been even more staggering if there had been a three-point basket at the time. He had 56 games with at least 40 points in his three-year career, including a school- and SEC-record 69 in a 106-104 post-game brawl-marred defeat at Alabama when he was hampered by leg ailments. No other player has had more than 21 games with a minimum of 40. He averaged more than 50 points per game in a 10-game stretch spanning the last three games of 1968-69 and the first seven games of 1969-70. Incredibly, Maravich improved his field-goal accuracy and assists average each year. Combining scoring and assists, Maravich was responsible for a whopping 59.4% of LSU's offense during his career.

Maravich never scored fewer than 30 points in back-to-back games and tallied under 20 just once (17 at Tennessee as a sophomore) in his three varsity seasons. The son of LSU coach Press Maravich was outscored in just one regular-season game by a teammate.

Maravich tallied more than 50 points in four outings against both SEC power Kentucky and intrastate independent rival Tulane. The Tigers lost all six times to Kentucky by double-digit margins despite his firepower. Here is a breakdown of how he amassed a 44.1-point career scoring average and modest 28-26 record in 54 games against SEC competition:

SEC Opponent Average High Low W-L
Alabama 48.8 ppg 69 30 4-2
Auburn 49 ppg 55 44 3-3
Florida 44 ppg 52 32 4-2
Georgia 46 ppg 58 37 5-1
Kentucky 52 ppg 64 44 0-6
Mississippi 42.3 ppg 53 31 3-3
Mississippi State 47.3 ppg 58 33 6-0
Tennessee 23 ppg 30 17 1-5
Vanderbilt 44.7 ppg 61 35 2-4

NOTE: LSU guard Chris Jackson is the only player to compile single-game scoring outbursts higher than Maravich in SEC competition against Mississippi (55 points), Florida (53) and Tennessee (50).

Best estimates are that Maravich would have averaged eight three-point goals per game if the arc had been around during his college playing days, which would have increased his scoring average to in excess of 50 ppg. Following is a game-by-game summary of Pistol Pete's career showing how his prolific scoring produced so many records prior to missing his final outing because of ankle and hip injuries:

Sophomore (1967-68)/Record: 14-12; 8-10 in SEC

Date Opponent FG-A FT-A REB PTS LSU-OPP
12-2-67 Tampa 20-50 8-9 16 48 97-81
12-4-67 at Texas 15-34 12-16 5 42 87-74
12-9-67 Loyola (New Orleans) 22-43 7-11 9 51 90-56
12-15-67 at Wisconsin* 16-40 10-13 9 42 94-96
12-16-67 Florida State* 17-41 8-10 5 42 100-130
12-19-67 Mississippi 17-34 12-13 11 46 81-68
12-22-67 Mississippi State 22-40 14-16 8 58 111-87
12-30-67 Alabama 10-30 10-11 6 30 81-70
1-3-68 Auburn 20-38 15-17 9 55 76-72
1-6-68 at Florida 9-22 14-17 10 32 90-97
1-8-68 at Georgia 14-37 14-17 11 42 79-76
1-11-68 at Tulane 20-42 12-15 5 52 100-91
1-24-68 Clemson 14-29 5-6 6 33 104-81
1-27-68 Kentucky 19-51 14-17 11 52 95-121
1-29-68 Vanderbilt 22-57 10-15 6 54 91-99
2-3-68 at Kentucky 16-38 12-15 8 44 96-109
2-5-68 Tennessee 9-34 3-3 6 21 67-87
2-7-68 at Auburn 18-47 13-13 6 49 69-74
2-10-68 Florida (OT) 17-48 13-15 7 47 93-92
2-12-68 Georgia 20-47 11-18 4 51 73-78
2-17-68 at Alabama 24-52 11-13 12 59 99-89
2-19-68 at Mississippi State 13-38 8-12 7 34 94-83
2-21-68 Tulane 21-47 13-15 5 55 99-92
2-24-68 at Mississippi 13-26 14-16 4 40 85-87
3-2-68 at Tennessee 7-18 3-4 3 17 71-74
3-4-68 at Vanderbilt 17-39 8-11 6 42 86-115

*Milwaukee Classic.

Junior (1968-69)/Record: 13-13; 7-11 in SEC

Date Opponent FG-A FT-A REB PTS LSU-OPP
12-2-68 at Loyola (New Orleans) 22-34 8-9 7 52 109-82
12-7-68 at Clemson 10-32 18-22 4 38 86-85
12-14-68 Tulane (2OT) 20-48 15-20 7 55 99-101
12-18-68 Florida (OT) 17-32 11-15 8 45 93-89
12-21-68 Georgia 18-33 11-16 10 47 98-89
12-26-68 Wyoming** 14-34 17-24 6 45 84-78
12-28-68 at Oklahoma City** 19-36 2-5 8 40 101-85
12-30-68 Duquesne** 18-36 17-21 2 53 94-91
1-4-69 at Alabama 19-49 4-4 10 42 82-85
1-9-69 at Vanderbilt 15-30 8-13 4 38 92-94
1-11-69 at Auburn 16-41 14-18 5 46 71-90
1-25-69 Kentucky 20-48 12-14 11 52 96-108
1-27-69 Tennessee 8-18 5-8 4 21 68-81
1-31-69 Pittsburgh 13-34 14-18 8 40 120-79
2-1-69 Mississippi (OT) 11-33 9-13 11 31 81-84
2-3-69 Mississippi State 14-32 5-6 11 33 95-71
2-8-69 Alabama 15-30 8-12 5 38 81-75
2-10-69 at Tulane 25-51 16-20 10 66 94-110
2-12-69 at Florida 14-41 22-27 6 50 79-95
2-15-69 Auburn 20-44 14-15 3 54 93-81
2-17-69 Vanderbilt 14-33 7-8 8 35 83-85
2-22-69 at Kentucky 21-53 3-7 5 45 89-103
2-24-69 at Tennessee 8-18 4-8 3 20 63-87
3-1-69 at Mississippi 21-39 7-11 3 49 76-78
3-3-69 at Mississippi State 20-49 15-19 4 55 99-89
3-8-69 at Georgia (2OT) 21-48 16-25 6 58 90-80

**All-College Tournament at Oklahoma City.

Senior (1969-70)/Record: 22-10; 13-5 in SEC

Date Opponent FG-A FT-A REB PTS LSU-OPP
12-4-69 Oregon State 14-32 15-19 5 43 94-72
12-9-69 Loyola (New Orleans) 17-36 9-10 6 43 100-87
12-11-69 Vanderbilt 26-54 9-10 10 61 109-86
12-13-69 at Tulane 17-42 12-19 4 46 97-91
12-18-69 Southern California 18-43 14-16 6 50 98-101
12-20-69 at Clemson 22-30 5-8 6 49 111-103
12-22-69 at Oregon State 9-23 30-31 1 48 76-68
12-23-69 at UCLA 14-42 10-12 4 38 84-133
12-29-69 St. John's*** 20-44 13-16 8 53 80-70
12-30-69 Yale*** 13-28 8-11 5 34 94-97
1-3-70 Alabama 22-42 11-18 7 55 90-83
1-10-70 Auburn 18-46 8-11 6 44 70-79
1-24-70 at Kentucky 21-44 13-15 5 55 96-109
1-26-70 Tennessee 12-23 5-7 4 29 71-59
1-31-70 Mississippi 21-46 11-15 5 53 109-86
2-2-70 Mississippi State 21-40 7-9 3 49 109-91
2-4-70 at Florida 20-38 12-16 9 52 97-75
2-7-70 at Alabama 26-57 17-21 5 69 104-106
2-9-70 Tulane 18-45 13-15 4 49 127-114
2-11-70 Florida 16-35 6-10 3 38 94-85
2-14-70 at Vanderbilt 14-46 10-13 5 38 99-89
2-16-70 at Auburn 18-46 10-15 8 46 70-64
2-18-70 Georgia 17-34 3-6 2 37 88-86
2-21-70 Kentucky 23-42 18-22 4 64 105-121
2-23-70 at Tennessee 10-24 10-13 7 30 87-88
2-28-70 at Mississippi 13-43 9-14 9 35 103-90
3-2-70 at Mississippi State 22-44 11-13 5 55 97-87
3-7-70 at Georgia 16-37 9-10 3 41 99-88
3-15-70 Georgetown (NIT) 6-16 8-12 6 20 83-80
3-17-70 Oklahoma (NIT) 14-33 9-13 8 37 97-94
3-19-70 Marquette (NIT) 4-13 12-16 1 20 79-101
3-21-70 Army (NIT) DNP 68-75

***Rainbow Classic at Honolulu.

Career Scoring Site-of-Game Breakdown

Location (Record) G. Pts. Avg.
Home (25-12) 37 1667 45.1
Neutral (5-3) 8 304 38.0
Road (19-19) 38 1696 44.6

Marks of Ownership

Three different Rhode Island State players in a six-year span set the major-college single-season scoring average record in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Maravich's record of 44.5 ppg in 1969-70 might never be eclipsed. Following is a look at how long players have held the NCAA Division I single-season scoring average standard (through 2017-18):

Player School Years Record (Season)
Hank Luisetti Stanford one 17.1 ppg (1936-37)
Chet Jaworski Rhode Island State one 22.6 ppg (1938-39)
Stan Modzelewski Rhode Island State three 23.1 ppg (1939-40)
George Senesky St. Joseph's one 23.4 ppg (1942-43)
Ernie Calverley Rhode Island State seven 26.7 ppg (1943-44)
Bill Mlkvy Temple two 29.2 ppg (1950-51)
Frank Selvy Furman 15 41.7 ppg (1953-54)
Pete Maravich Louisiana State 50 44.5 ppg (1969-70)

5. Bill Walton's NCAA Tournament championship game field-goal accuracy of 95.5% (21 of 22 for UCLA vs. Memphis State in 1973).

6. UCLA's streak of 13 consecutive undisputed conference championships in a power league (from 1967 through 1979 in Pacific-8/Pacific-10).

7. Artis Gilmore's career rebounding average of 22.7 per game (for Jacksonville in 1969-70 and 1970-71).

8. Centenary's Robert Parish finished among nation's top five in rebounding all four seasons with more than 15 rpg each year.

9. Kentucky's 129-game homecourt winning streak (under coach Adolph Rupp from Jan. 4, 1943, to Jan. 8, 1955.)

10. Bill Chambers' 51 rebounds in a single game (for William & Mary vs. Virginia on Feb. 14, 1953.).