Missouri retires jersey of its career scoring leader, Derrick Chievous
As a Missouri basketball era defined by a pair of state stars concluded, another led by a New York scoring whiz began, and the program’s winning ways continued.
Mizzou and coach Norm Stewart weren’t quite sure what they had in Derrick Chievous, the 6-7 matchup nightmare.
But after four years, the numbers made it clear: Chievous was one of the greatest players in program history, and his 2,580 career points scored from 1984-1988 may never be topped at Mizzou.
Chievous’ No. 3 jersey was retired in a halftime ceremony on Tuesday as Missouri played host to Kentucky. All of the Tigers who took the floor in the pregame wore a No. 3 Chievous warmup.
He’s the seventh Mizzou hoop player to be so honored, the first since teammate Doug Smith. Also on the list are the players from the Show-Me State that he followed, Steve Stipanovich and Jon Sundvold, along with Stewart.
The “Band-Aid Man,” a nickname he earned by wearing a Band-Aid during a game whether or not one was needed.
“It was an amazing journey from New York to here,” Chievous said during the halftime ceremony.
Chievous lives in Columbia with his wife, Tami, Missouri’s associate athletic director for academic services, and their children. He knows Tigers coach Cuonzo Martin, who coached Chievous’ son, Quinton, at Tennessee.
Chievous’ specialty as a player was getting to the free throw line. Nine players in NCAA history made more than his 764 freebies, a list that includes Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson, Bill Bradley and Alonzo Mourning.
His best season arguably came in his junior year when Chievous averaged a career-best 24.1, while scoring a school-record 821 points.
That also was Missouri’s best season as a team in his time, as the Tigers cut down nets as the Big Eight regular season and tournament champion. They beat Kansas at Kemper Arena to capture the tournament.
Chievous and those Tigers teams represented a golden era of Big Eight basketball, capped by the all-conference 1988 NCAA title game between the Jayhawks and Sooners. In nearly every league game, Chievous and Missouri confronted an opponent that featured one of the best players in that program’s history.
The careers of Kansas’ Danny Manning and Iowa State’s Jeff Grayer, their schools’ all-time scoring leaders, aligned with Chievous.’
There were battles with Oklahoma and Wayman Tisdale, then Stacey King. Mitch Richmond, perhaps Kansas State’s best player, took on Chievous’ teams for two seasons.
Chievous was as effective as any of them, making a college career of going hard to the basket and getting points. He also was an excellent rebounder, standing second on the program’s all-time list when his career ended.
There were no NCAA Tournament victories for Chievous’ teams. Three of his NBA seasons with the Rockets and Cavaliers ended in the playoffs.
But few were better after four years in a Missouri uniform and none scored more.
“Your name and your number will remind people of a great era,” Stewart said in a video message.
This story was originally published February 19, 2019 at 9:16 PM.