it’s a record that has stood since 1980, but with Darius McGhee announcing his plans to return to Liberty for his fifth and final year of eligibility, it is one that is likely to fall. Over the course of his four year career, Liberty Hall of Famer Karl Kess scored 2,373 career points, and he has held the program’s scoring title since his career finished in 1980
McGhee has scored 1,864 career points during his time at Liberty, and he currently ranks No. 5 on the school’s all-time scoring list. Here’s the current top five:
- Karl Hess: 2,373
- Larry Blair: 2,211
- Bailey Alston: 2,115
- Mark Chafin: 1,947
- Darius McGhee: 1,864
Only Blair, Alston, and McGhee on that list played the majority (or all) of their Liberty career at the Division I level while Hess and Chafin played for the Flames prior to the school joining the NCAA’s highest level.
McGhee needs just 83 points to catch Chafin, something he should do early in the 2022-23 season. McGhee needs just 136 points to become the fourth member of the 2,000 point club, and he needs 251 points to reach Alston for third on the career scoring list. Both of those would be likely to happen prior to Christmas.
At that point, McGhee would then set his sights on Larry Blair and the program’s Division I scoring record. The 5’9″ guard currently trails Blair by 347 points. If McGhee averages 20.0 points per game this coming season, it would take him 13 games to catch Blair.
McGhee is 509 points behind Karl Hess. If he averaged 20.0 points per game this year, it would take him 26 games to catch Hess. This past season, McGhee averaged 24.7 points per game. At that rate, it would take 21 games to reach Hess.
Some will put an asterisk on McGhee’s scoring record if he reaches Blair or Hess, and understandably so. If you asked McGhee, he would say he doesn’t care about the individual records or accolades, and that he is coming back for one more season to win, not break any records.
