Antoine Davis is one of college basketball’s best-ever scorers. So why has no one noticed?

DETROIT — Antoine Davis, sitting here minding his own business in the upper rows of Calihan Hall, is the only active men’s Division I basketball player with more than 2,500 career points. He stands at 2,734, to be exact, in 111 games played.

He’s already passed fellow 2,500-point scorers Elgin Baylor, Bill Bradley, Andrew Toney, Calvin Murphy, Austin Carr, Joe Dumars, Calbert Cheaney, Steph Curry, Wayman Tisdale and David Robinson, among others. He’s scored more points in fewer games than legendary bucket-getters Jimmer Fredette (2,599 in 139 games), Reggie Lewis (2,708 in 122) and Hank Gathers (2,723 in 117).

Currently the 22nd all-time scorer in college basketball history, Davis will soon pass the likes of JJ Redick (2,769 in 139 games), Allan Houston (2,801 in 128) and Larry Bird (2,850 in 94). Davis will probably do so by December.

Then he’ll pass guys like Tyler Hansbrough (2,872 in 142 games), Elvin Hayes (2,884 in 93), Danny Manning (2,951 in 147) and Oscar Robertson (2,973 in 88). That should come by Christmas. Davis may very well pass the Big O during a game at Cincinnati, the legend’s alma mater, on Dec. 21.

In and around that time, he’ll become only the 11th player in men’s D1 history with 3,000 points. Then, if playing Detroit Mercy’s 32-game schedule and sticking toughly to his career average of 24.6 points per game, Davis will end his career with more than 3,500 points. He’ll cruise right on by the likes of Hersey Hawkins, Harry “Machine Gun” Kelly, Doug McDermott, Lionel Simmons and others.

He will, in most likelihood, stand as the No. 2 all-time leading scorer in D1 history.

Is Pete Maravich’s unbreakable record of 3,667 points (in only 83 games) in jeopardy? Probably not. Davis would have to average 29.1 points per game or play a lot more than 32 times. Pistol’s record will likely stand.

But, at any rate, Antoine Davis will end his college career in the rarest of airs.

So why isn’t anyone talking about it?

“That’s what happens when you don’t do enough winning,” Davis says, looking out over an outdated 8,295-seat arena, the type of building erected in another era of college basketball. “I mean, I try not to think about it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. I don’t take it the wrong way. It is what it is, man. Out of my control. If media and people don’t talk about it, then they don’t talk about it.”

It has, in fairness, been easy not to. Detroit Mercy, a middling Horizon League program, is 45-69 in four seasons since hiring head coach Mike Davis, Antoine’s father, in 2018. Mike came to Detroit after taking Texas Southern to four NCAA Tournaments in six seasons. Back then, the family lived in Houston and young Antoine was ticketed to play for Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars. He balked on that commitment, though, backing out of a National Letter of Intent and instead deciding to play for his father at Texas Southern. When the UDM offer came, the whole family moved north.

Mike and Antoine Davis, along with assistant coach Mike Davis Jr., have been trying to establish some semblance of a program ever since. Hasn’t been easy. Their first roster consisted of five freshmen, six junior college transfers and two graduate transfers. Then COVID-19 derailed portions of the next two years. All told, roster turnover has been rampant. Antoine played with 41 different teammates over the past four seasons. This year’s roster features six transfers.

The lone constant on the floor has been Antoine Davis. He, too, is easy to overlook. Having just turned 24, he’s 6-foot-1, maybe, and has played most of his college career around 155 or 160 pounds. He’s small and soft-spoken. You might mistake him for a team manager.

But then the ball reaches his hands. Davis yo-yos it. Behind the back. Hesitation. Through the legs. Jab steps. Cross-overs. Step-backs. Round and round. He shoots here, there, everywhere. He finds seams to slip through that only water could otherwise escape. He makes easy shots look exciting and makes wild shots look mundane.

All told, Davis has put up 2,255 shots in his Detroit Mercy days. A far cry from Maravich’s 3,166 shots in three years at LSU, but still a hell of a lot. In his career, Davis has played 37.3 minutes per game, putting up over 31 shots per 100 possessions. He has, from Day 1, had total free rein in his father’s system. He’s also averaged 4.6 assists per game and will end his career as UDM’s all-time leader in that, too.

In trying to understand why Antoine Davis flies so under the radar, this is likely the root. It’s the combination: not enough wins + a crazy amount of shots. It’s made it easy to dismiss his marks. Are they because Davis is that good or because he’s allowed to play the way he plays?

The result of the paradox?

“He’s being treated like he’s a hot pocket or something,” says Mike Davis Jr., Antoine’s brother and now a fifth-year UDM assistant. “Imagine how this would be being blown up if he was somewhere else. Even at Oakland, I feel like it’d be a bigger deal.”

That theory was nearly tested. In the weeks following the 2021-22 season, Antoine decided on a fifth season of college basketball. He also decided, though, that it wouldn’t be at Detroit Mercy. He entered the transfer portal, eyeing a move to high-major ball and life on the other side. One of the biggest proponents of the move was an unlikely voice.

“I might’ve been pushing him to go more than anyone else,” Mike Jr. says. “I know how to separate the emotion and, as a brother, I wanted him to get to experience new things.”

The calls poured in. Antoine spoke to both Kansas and Kentucky. He considered Auburn. In time, his interests were narrowed to BYU, Kansas State, Georgetown and Maryland. Each had a need for a high-scoring guard. He made campus visits. Each staff laid out their plan for him. They showed him their sparkling facilities, told him about their team chefs and charter flights, presented lucrative Name, Image and Likeness opportunities.

Then, as is tradition on these visits, Davis was given a uniform for a photo shoot. A chance to see how things fit.

💛❤️ #notcommitted
— Antoine Davis🦋 (@Youngdvs13) April 21, 2022

Each time, though, Davis looked in the mirror and felt something.

“It just didn’t look right, didn’t feel right,” he says. “Like, do I really want to end my college career somewhere else? I was kinda torn, you know? I kinda feel like this place (Detroit Mercy) is my legacy. I started here, I should finish here. I don’t need anything else.”

Still, it was hard to turn down what was out there. Davis nearly committed to BYU. His other runner-up was Kansas State.

“A normal recruit, going from (Detroit Mercy), and then seeing BYU, K-State, Maryland?” he says, laughing. “I mean, there’d be no chance.”

Davis announced his return to Detroit Mercy on May 9. Immediately, a theory kicked around that he never actually intended to leave. His dalliance with the portal, some suggested, was more so to drum up some NIL opportunities.

The problem with this notion? While he has signed some NIL deals, he could have earned vastly more by going to a larger school. These places are not remotely close in potential earnings.

“I mean, I left a lot on the table,” Davis says. “Trust me, I didn’t go in just to get some buzz around my name. I wanted to branch out. I wanted to think about it. Ever since, I’ve been trying to get people to understand — it wasn’t a clout thing. It was me really wanting to see what was out there and think about playing for a different school. In the end, I just changed my mind. I couldn’t do it.”

Davis also had to consider what a change in roles would mean. At a high major, he might be asked to play as more of a lead guard, as opposed to a scorer. He says he was OK with fewer shots, but had to realize he was taking a risk.

“I have the luxury of taking 15-20 shots here,” he says. “If I go somewhere else, they’ll tell me they’ll let me do it, but then they might not allow me to play the way I want to play — play freely, the way I play here. That all came into mind.”

So Antoine Davis is back at Calihan Hall, whether anyone out there notices or not. His last time playing in the building was in March. It was Senior Day for the program’s all-time leading scorer. The listed attendance was 1,817. It was, in reality, maybe half of that.

“That was hard to see,” Mike Jr. says.

So, is winning a prerequisite for attention? Do the Titans have to win the Horizon for anyone to care about a player scoring 3,000 points? Will anyone really notice when Davis (likely) shatters Fletcher Magee’s D1 mark of 509 career 3-pointers? What about everything else? On his expected trajectory, every night Detroit Mercy takes the floor will mark a potential earmark in history.

Will the outside notice?

We’ll see. Davis is hoping the Titans can drum attention the old fashion way — by winning. The program brings back five pieces from a roster that went 10-7 in the Horizon last season. The additions are intriguing. There’s 6-8 forward Gerald Liddell, a former top-50 national recruit who spent three years at Texas before averaging 10 and 6 at Alabama State last season. There’s T.J. Moss, a top-100 recruit once upon a time, who began his career at South Carolina before stopping at McNeese State last year. There’s Damezi Anderson, once the No. 2 recruit out of Indiana and a top-100 recruit. He’s gone from Indiana to Loyola Chicago and now to Detroit Mercy. Incoming freshman Sonny Johnson Jr. committed to Penn State in May 2021 before decommitting and ultimately signing with UDM in August.

For his part, Antoine Davis says this will be his finest season. After spending time this summer conducting individual workouts with Brandon Payne, the renowned personal trainer to Steph Curry, he’s up to 170 pounds and feels stronger than ever. On the floor, he’s gone back to basics, prioritizing skill development over scoring.

Playing out what this final season might look like in his mind’s eye, Davis says, “It’s only gonna be harder to stop me.”

If Davis is right, college basketball’s record book will be rewritten. Maybe, just maybe, he takes a run at Maravich’s implausible plateau of 3,667 points. The only way to realistically get there, though? Winning. Winning enough that Detroit Mercy extends its schedule deeper into March.

“Unless we do that, does the other stuff really matter?” Davis says.

That’s up to others to decide, but it sounds like something worth watching.

(Top photo: Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)