Kim Mulkey reacts to Caitlin Clark record, reflects on Pete Maravich legacy

Sunday was a historic day across the college basketball landscape, as Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark became the all-time leading scorer in Division I college basketball history between the men’s and women’s games. Surpassing a record that stood strong for over 50 years by LSU‘s Pete Maravich.

In the second quarter of the Hawkeyes’ regular season finale against Ohio State, Clark hit two free throws to tie and surpass Maravich’s record longstanding record of 3,667 career points. With Clark ending the game with 35 points in the win to now sit at 3,685 career points as Iowa enters postseason play.

The moment was a historic one that will be long remembered in basketball history and particularly cherished across all of women’s sports. But on Sunday following LSU’s win over Kentucky, Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey gave her reaction to Clark surpassing Maravich’s record.

“I’m gonna get long-winded here, okay?” Mulkey asked. “Pete Maravich could do things with the basketball that I had never seen done in my life. Who can go behind your back, between your legs, and he could just see things ahead of his time? The movie, y’all see his movie back in the day? A lot of it was filmed in Hammond and Ponchatoula, so I was just glued to all the videos and the things that he did.”

Mulkey is referring to ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich’s iconic training videos, one of the many pieces in the lure of one of the greatest players in the history of the collegiate or professional levels of basketball.

Both Clark and Mavavich will go down as two of the most decorated college basketball players of all time, with more accomplishments between the two to count. But regarding Clark surpassing Maravich on the all-time scoring list, Mulkey had some interesting thoughts surrounding the comparison of the two players.

“I don’t look at comparing apples to oranges. What [Caitlin] Clark has done is unbelievable and her name will be right up there at the top,” Mulkey said. “But he played over here with no three-point line three years and I don’t think we need to make too much of ‘oh she passed him’ because he’s a man. She’s who she is and that’s awesome, and her lord knows when I played against her I was like are you kidding me? What a generational talent.”

Maravich was prohibited from playing at the varsity level in his freshman season at LSU given the NCAA’s rules at the time, scoring 741 points in freshman competition. The shot clock and the three-point line were also notably non-existent during Maravich’s college playing days in the late 1960s, but so were African American players as well, with SEC schools almost entirely segregated during the time period.

Clark has made 509 three-pointers thus far in her four-year career, accounting for 1,527 of her points as she’s revolutionized the women’s game with her deep-range shooting from behind the arc. And like Maravich, Clark has also made her passing prowess one of her calling cards, becoming the first men’s or women’s player to score 3,000 career points and have 1,000 career assists in Division I history.

There’s no question that both have had a significant impact on the game of basketball and did their parts in changing the game. Leading to Mulkey seeing Clark and Maravich as counterparts versus one having superiority over another despite her recent record breaking performance.

“But I don’t look at it like that,” Mulkey said putting one of her hands over another.

“I look at it like this, two separate things right there,” she said gesturing her hands side by side.