Losing to a Division II school on your home court sure is embarrassing, but where does Syracuse's humiliation at the hands of Le Moyne rank among the most embarrassing losses of the last decade?
10) East Central 115 Texas Tech 167 11/20/2008
Ok, so East Central isn’t exactly a college basketball powerhouse, in fact, they aren’t even in division I, but to give up 167 points in regulation is embarrassing no matter who you are. In one of the highest scoring game of the modern era, the Texas Tech Red Raiders made an astonishing 67 of 113 field goals, helping them reach the unthinkable total of 167 points in 40 minutes (4.175 pts per min). So how does a score like this happen? Well it may have been East Central’s 29 turnovers, or perhaps it was Texas Tech’s 62 rebounds, maybe even their 18 steals. However it happened, the Tigers of East Central are the only team in the history of college basketball to put up over 110 points and lose by at least 50.
9)
Marquette 61 Southern Miss 83 1/16/2004
In January of 2004, a battle of college basketball’s Golden Eagles was sure to be a blowout… and it was. The #21 Marquette Golden Eagles (11-3) were nine and a half point favorites over the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss (8-6), making So Miss a 4:1 underdog. They didn’t just win, though, they slaughtered
8)
Kansas 84 UNC 66 4/5/2008
For the first time in the history of the 64-team bracket, all four #1 seeds made it to the Final Four in 2008. So when #1
7)
Grambling St. 27 Texas A&M 101 2/28/2006
It came as no surprise that the 11th ranked Aggies defeated the Tigers of Grambling St. in 2006. In fact the game was expected to be such a blowout that there was no betting spread available. Though, I doubt it would have been 74. Ranking as the 10th largest margin of victory since 1938, Texas A&M’s 74-point domination started with a 28-0 right out of the gates. By the time the Aggies stretched their lead to 52-10 with 3:46 left in the first half, the game was statistically over. Texas A&M’s 3.74:1 single game points scored ratio still ranks as the largest in the shot clock era.
6)
UAB 72 Arizona 71 11/18/2008
Arizona 64 USC 65 1/17/2009
They say it’s not how you win, it’s if you win. Last year’s
5)
Hampton 58 Iowa State 57 3/15/2001
A 15-seed has only beaten a 2-seed four times in the history of the NCAA tournament, and one of those unlucky four losers was
4)
UNC 66 Santa Clara 77 1/19/2004
In the 2004-2005 college basketball season, the North Carolina Tarheels only lost four games: to Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament, at Duke by one point, at
3)
Le Moyne 82 Syracuse 79 11/3/2009
Finally, Le Moyne is getting the respect they deserve… that’s what
2)
St. Louis 20 George Washington 49 1/10/2008
Reminding us that not all records are good ones to hold, the St. Louis Billikens managed to only score 20 points in 40 minutes, the lowest since the inception of the shot clock in 1986. Besides the fact that shot clocks were actually 45 seconds long until 1994 (allowing for even lower scoring games), St Louis’ embarrassment is heightened further by the fact that they had an above .500 team that year. Yet, coming off of a three game win streak, the 9-5 Billikens mustered a field goal percentage of only 14.6% (7-48). I highly encourage you to check out the box score (linked above) and pick out whichever embarrassing stat you find most amusing.
1) Duke 98 MD 96 (OT) 1/27/2001
If losing to one of your biggest rivals is embarrassing, and losing to one of your biggest rivals at home in overtime is really embarrassing, then what do you call losing to one of your biggest rivals at home in overtime because you had the worst last minute collapse in the history of college basketball? Well, most people call it the miracle minute. Up 90-80 with less than a minute to go, the Maryland Terrapins managed to give up 10 points in 31.6 seconds, allowing Duke to tie the game and eventually win by two in overtime. Only a perfect combination of poor inbounding, bad ball control, horrific free throw shooting, nonexistent defense and abhorrent clock management could allow for such a humiliation, but the Terps excelled in all categories. Also, Jason Williams hitting his only 2 threes of the game (he was previously 0-6) didn’t help. All in all, I'd say it was pretty embarrassing.