Caitlyn Clark breaks Pete Maravich's 54-year-old scoring record [View all]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaw/bigten/2024/03/03/iowa-vs-ohio-state-score-live-updates-highlights-caitlin-clark/72811124007/

The late “Pistol” Pete Maravich, who got that nickname because his father threatened to shoot him with a .45-caliber pistol if he drank or got into trouble in high school or college, was an NBA legend. During his time at Louisiana State University from 1967 to 1970, he managed to shovel in 3667 points in his three years on the varsity team. The “but-but-but” crowd correctly point out this number would be a hell of a lot higher in today’s game: the 741 points he scored on the freshman team aren’t in this total, there was no shot clock when he played so the teams he played against would run a lot of game-delaying plays to slow him down and Maravich was a long-range shooter who made a lot of shots from three-point range before there was a three-point line. Those are mere quibbles; the fact of the matter is Maravich scored so many points his record, in today’s game where they have all these things, stood for 54 years.

On March 3, 2024, Iowa Hawkeye Caitlyn Clark walked onto the court needing 18 points to put Pistol Pete’s record to bed. In the first half she made 19. She ended the game with 35 points - one shy of twice as many as she needed. Like Maravich, she’s a long-range shooter - her signature shot is a “logo 3” which is a shot made from inside the tip-off circle at half court. Unlike baseball postseason points are added to your scoring total in NCAA basketball, so since the Hawkeyes still have the Big 10 tournament and March Madness to look forward to…she isn’t done. After the NCAA tournament she is; she’s going to the WNBA next season.

It took 54 years and a bunch of rule changes designed to increase scoring for anyone to break Maravich’s record. Hers may stand for all time.