Louisiana Hot-Shot

"One! One! One!" pleaded the sellout crowd in the Louisiana State University Coliseum. L.S.U. Guard Pete Maravich (TIME, Jan. 19, 1968) tried, but all he could manage was 0,0,0,0,0 --five missed jump shots in a row. Finally, with 4 min. 41 sec. remaining in the game against the University of Mississippi, Pistol Pete popped a 23-ft. jumper from the right side. The shot boosted Maravich's collegiate scoring total to 2,975 points, eclipsing the record set by Oscar Robertson at the University of Cincinnati a decade ago.

Mobbed on the court, Maravich shouted: "Look, we've still got to finish the game!" After order was restored, he added twelve more points for a total of 53 and a 109-86 L.S.U. victory. A 6-ft. 5-in. scarecrow with floppy hair and sloppy socks, Maravich is a rarity among superscorers: he passes off to teammates as deftly as he shoots. While besting Robertson's mark, he also racked up a dozen assists, which is just one shy of the L.S.U. record for a single game.

In two games last week, Maravich scored a total of 101 points, pushing his career total to 3,088. With eleven games remaining, the only question now is how soon he will reach the 3,500 mark. No one is more awed by Pistol Pete's sharpshooting than his father, Press Maravich, the L.S.U. coach. "Who would ever have dreamed," he says, "that that little kid who said 'Hey, Dad, give me a shot,' would do this?"

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