The Biggest Trap Game for Each AP Top 25 Team in College Basketball
Getting up for a ranked opponent? No problem.
Finding motivation to take on a rival or head into a hostile environment where it's hard to win? No sweat.
Mustering similar drive to take on the rest of the schedule is what separates the great teams from the rest of the pack. But even the best of the best find themselves falling into traps throughout the long season, often in games that, on paper, look like sure wins but don't end up playing that way.
Whether it be the timing of the game, the location or factors such as competition before and after that matchup, certain games just scream, "It's a Trap!!!!!" in their best Admiral Ackbar impersonation.
We've seen a number of these games already this season for the top teams, including last weekend. Wisconsin's loss at Rutgers, though fueled by some Badgers injuries, was a game that didn't weigh as heavily on their minds as others. Same with Duke, which might have been spending too much time thinking about coach Mike Krzyzewski's upcoming 1,000-win milestone to properly defend at North Carolina State.
Every Top 25 team has at least one of these remaining on their 2014-15 schedule, and it's probably not the one you thought for some. Check out the upcoming games we think have the biggest trap potential for every currently ranked team.
25. Wyoming
1 of 25
Jan. 17 at Fresno State
Wyoming (15-3) entered the rankings for the first time since 1988 this week, but that visit appears to be short-lived after the Cowboys lost at home Wednesday to San Diego State. It was a disappointing result for them, and after playing in such a grind-it-out game there's a chance they could lack motivation for a road trip to central California.
Fresno State (9-9) has gotten off to a surprising 4-1 start in Mountain West play despite not having top player Cezar Guerrero for much of the season. The junior guard made his debut on Wednesday after sitting out because of academic issues, and he scored 15 points in a win over San Jose State.
Adding a player at this point in the season can mess with scouting reports, so Wyoming might not be fully prepared for what he brings to the court. Add in the lingering memories of Wednesday's loss, and the Cowboys face a potential pitfall.
24. Oklahoma State
2 of 25
Feb. 14 at TCU
After being one of just a handful of teams to make it through nonconference play unbeaten, TCU (13-3) has fallen back into old patterns and lost all three Big 12 games. The Horned Frogs have lost 21 straight conference games and are 2-39 over the past three seasons against Big 12 opponents.
They're going to end that streak sooner or later, and Oklahoma State (12-4) could very well be that victim.
The Cowboys are 1-3 on the road this season, losing both of their Big 12 tilts away from Stillwater. Add in the fact the visit to Fort Worth is their only game against an unranked opponent in an eight-game stretch from Jan. 27-Feb. 21, and the ingredients are there to get tripped up.
23. Northern Iowa
3 of 25
Jan. 25 at Illinois State
Northern Iowa (15-2) has experienced the highs and lows of playing on the road this season, ending Stephen F. Austin's long home-court win streak in November and then falling at VCU in double overtime. The Panthers also dropped their Missouri Valley Conference opener at Evansville, putting them quickly behind the eight ball in their quest to hang with Wichita State for the league title.
UNI can't afford to give away any more games if it wants to stay in contention for the top spot, which makes next weekend's trip to Illinois State a very dangerous game. The Redbirds (10-7) haven't played well of late, but earlier in the season they were one of two teams to beat Old Dominion.
The MVC is far deeper this season than in 2013-14, and the traps are everywhere.
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22. Baylor
4 of 25
Jan. 21 vs. Huston-Tillotson
It's common for power-conference teams to throw in a non-league game in the middle of the tough conference slate, but that's usually to provide a challenge that will help with the rigors of league play. Baylor (13-3) isn't doing that with its next home game.
In what has to go down as one of the oddest pieces of scheduling in recent memory, the Bears are hosting Huston-Tillotson, an NAIA school from Austin that heads into the weekend with a 3-9 record that includes losses to three other Texas-based Division I schools. The difference, though, is those games were before conference play began for Incarnate Word, Lamar and Texas State.
It's very unlikely Baylor will lose this game—if it does, Scott Drew might get fired on the spot—but that doesn't mean the game itself couldn't serve as a trap in that it might lead to overconfidence for upcoming games against far better opponents.
21. Seton Hall
5 of 25
Jan. 28 at Marquette
Seton Hall (13-4) has had trouble when making road trips this season. Other than a clean sweep of wins at a tournament in the Virgin Islands in November, the Pirates have run into a lot of trouble away from home.
That's carried over into Big East play, where Seton Hall's lone conference loss came at Xavier and earlier this week it edged out last-place Creighton by one point on the road. There are a few more trips to the Midwest left on the schedule, including later this month to face Marquette in Milwaukee.
Marquette (10-6) is 8-1 at home, including 2-0 in conference play. First-year coach Steve Wojciechowski is searching for that first big victory with the Warriors, and this could be it.
20. Texas
6 of 25
Feb. 7 at Kansas State
In a conference with seven currently ranked teams, it's hard to go very long without facing one of those juggernauts. Yet as it stands, Texas (12-4) has a chance to string together some wins during a February stretch where it plays all three unranked teams in succession.
Only one of those is on the road, but it isn't going to be an easy one. Kansas State (10-7) tends to play its best ball in Manhattan, despite the fact it's fallen there this season to the likes of Georgia and Texas Southern.
Any chance to knock off a ranked foe is going to be attacked with intensity by the Big 12's bottom feeders. Texas should heed this or potentially pay the price.
19. Arkansas
7 of 25
Feb. 10 at Auburn
The struggles Arkansas (13-3) has had on the road under coach Mike Anderson are well-documented. Yahoo! Sports' Pat Forde has labeled him "Homecourt Mike" because of his poor away record with the Razorbacks and before that at Missouri.
They were 3-6 on the road last season, and so far have gone 2-3 in away games after Tuesday's 74-69 loss at Tennessee. This means the Razorbacks' remaining seven SEC road games will all be tough, but when they go to Auburn next month there's a chance for a real stumble.
Auburn (9-7) is still a year or two away from competing in the league, but under first-year coach Bruce Pearl there's renewed energy. There's also much better crowds in the Auburn Arena, and anything that can add to Arkansas' road woes could be ammunition for an upset.
18. Oklahoma
8 of 25
Jan. 28 vs. Texas Tech
Oklahoma (11-5) began a stretch of four straight against ranked Big 12 opponents in a bad way on Tuesday, getting blown out at West Virginia. That's followed Saturday's visit from rival Oklahoma State and then trips to Kansas and Baylor.
It's enough to turn a contender into a pretender, and with the Sooners losing at home to Kansas State on Jan. 10 there's a chance they could stumble into a five-game losing streak. Or it could rise to six, depending on what's left in the tank when last-place Texas Tech comes to Norman later this month.
Tech (10-7) has lost its four Big 12 games by a combined 14.8 points, and since a 9-1 start the Red Raiders have lost six of seven. Tubby Smith's team is struggling and could be .500 when this game is played, which would make them very easy to overlook in a league full of huge challenges.
17. Virginia Commonwealth
9 of 25
Jan. 23 at Saint Louis
VCU (14-3) began its longest road trip of the season on Tuesday with a hard-fought five-point win at Rhode Island. The games figure to be easier on the second and third legs, starting with Saturday's trip to Duquesne and then a visit to a rebuilding Saint Louis team.
Or so it would seem.
Saint Louis (9-8) won 27 games a year ago, but the Billikens graduated five of their top six scorers and this season have home losses to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and South Dakota State. It's looking like a losing season for a program that had been on the rise, but that's just the scenario where you often find trap games turning into upsets.
16. West Virginia
10 of 25
Feb. 11 vs. Kansas State
The most likely candidates for trap games usually come on the road, where top teams find themselves not giving a lesser opponent enough credit and end up getting run off the court. But in the Big 12, there's so few so-called "easy" games on the schedule that when one happens, it doesn't matter where it's held.
Breathers can become bumps in the road, and for West Virginia (15-2) that could come against the only game it is scheduled to play against an unranked team in February or March.
Nine of the Mountaineers' final 10 games feature ranked opponents, with a mid-February visit from Kansas State (10-7) wedged in that stretch. K-State has some bad losses on its ledger this season, but an overtime win at Oklahoma shows the Wildcats are capable of taking down a big one.
15. North Carolina
11 of 25
Jan. 21 at Wake Forest
North Carolina (13-4) has shown a particular knack for strong play on the road this season, including a 2-0 start away from home in ACC play. The opponents (Clemson and North Carolina State) weren't as significant as the confidence the Tar Heels have showed in those road tilts.
Next up, though, is a potential sleeping giant waiting to get its first notable scalp under its new coach.
Wake Forest (9-9) had the unenviable task of opening conference play against Louisville and Duke, yet the Demon Deacons led in both games and ended up falling at home by single-digits both times. First-year coach Danny Manning has this team playing hard, and this is an upset in the making.
"The Demon Deacons will have a full week to prepare for that matchup, and as the rest of Wake's Tobacco Road rivals found out last year, the Lawrence Joel Coliseum can be a house of horrors for visitors, regardless of their ranking," Rant Sports' Ed Morgans wrote. "Duke, North Carolina and NC State all left Winston-Salem with losses last season, a year in which the Deacons finished 17-16."
14. Maryland
12 of 25
Feb. 14 at Penn State
Maryland's first few road trips in its inaugural Big Ten season have been both good and bad. There was the double-overtime win at Michigan State, followed by the lackluster loss at Illinois that was answered with a solid victory at Purdue.
As it stands now, the Terrapins (16-2) don't have a conference road game against a ranked opponent, since they host Wisconsin in late February during a huge stretch where four of five are at home. But it's the one trip away from College Park in that span that could end up being a place to stub the toe.
Though Penn State (12-5) is 0-4 in league play, three of those four have been on the road and all but the opener at Wisconsin have been single-digit defeats. The Nittany Lions have much of the same roster that swept a veteran Ohio State team last season, so they're capable of pulling an upset at an inopportune time.
13. Wichita State
13 of 25
Jan. 17 at Evansville
Wichita State (15-2) hasn't lost a Missouri Valley Conference game since March 2013, but last year there were some close ones on the road during the Shockers' unbeaten run into the postseason. The road figures to be even tougher in MVC play this season with Northern Iowa and others upping their game, and even last-place Drake played within eight points a few weeks back.
Aside from the games against Northern Iowa, the first of which is at the end of January, the most likely place where Wichita could stumble is this Saturday at Evansville. Don't believe us? Ask UNI, which fell by three on the road to the Purple Aces on New Year's Day.
Featuring one of the best mid-major guards in the country in junior D.J. Balentine, who ranks fourth in the country in scoring at 21.4 points per game, Evansville (13-4) is having its best season in years. Nothing would help validate that performance more than to knock off the defending MVC champs.
12. Notre Dame
14 of 25
Feb. 10 at Clemson
Notre Dame (16-2) was a different team on Wednesday in its first game without center Zach Auguste, who was unavailable while dealing with an "academic matter" and whose timetable for return is unknown. The Fighting Irish struggled to win at Georgia Tech, which is one of three teams in the ACC yet to win a conference game.
"Road wins in the ACC are never easy," Notre Dame senior Jerian Grant told the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). "Even without your starting big guy, to not have him and still get a road win is huge."
Whether Auguste is back or not, Notre Dame has some work to do in order to be able to handle the remaining road trips. It also won at North Carolina, but now with a new lineup things will get tougher, and with so many notable games on the schedule there's a good chance one of the lesser opponents could get overlooked.
Enter Clemson (9-7), which will host Notre Dame three days after the Irish play at Duke. That first game will be a battle, and the Irish could be ripe for a letdown regardless of how the Duke game goes.
11. Iowa State
15 of 25
Feb. 28 at Kansas State
Iowa State (14-3) has a certain "magic" that it taps into when playing games in its Hilton Coliseum, but on the road the Cyclones are a different team. Their losses this season have been in Brooklyn (to South Carolina) and Kansas City (Maryland), as well as Wednesday's one-point defeat at Baylor.
There are still seven more Big 12 road games for ISU this season, with four of those coming against ranked opponents. Five of their last eight are away from Hilton, which could make for a number of losses.
But it wouldn't be surprising for ISU to also fall when playing an unranked nonconference foe, particularly when it heads to Bramlage Coliseum. The crowd in that arena, also known as the "Octagon of Doom," often gives Kansas State (10-7) an added advantage, as the Wildcats went 5-0 there against ranked Big 12 teams last season.
10. Arizona
16 of 25
Feb. 15 at Washington State
Arizona (15-2) has already fallen victim to one of the Pac-12's early surprises, losing at Oregon State on Sunday night. Next month the tail end of a three-game road trip could finish with getting knocked off by another conference team that's gotten off to a good start.
Washington State (9-7) is 3-1 in conference play, with two of those wins on the road, knocking off California and rival Washington. The Cougars were 10-21 a year ago.
Arizona has won seven straight against WSU, including three in a row in Pullman. But with first-year coach Ernie Kent getting more out of this team than anyone since Tony Bennett, the long trip to southeastern Washington has all the makings of a game that won't end well for the Wildcats.
9. Kansas
17 of 25
Jan. 28 at TCU
Kansas (14-2) may be headed for an 11th straight Big 12 regular-season title, but even in those previous 10 championships the Jayhawks weren't immune to some odd defeats. The one that stands out the most came two years ago, when they lost by seven at a TCU team that was 0-8 in league play before that.
The result was so bad, Kansas coach Bill Self called his team the school's worst "since Dr. Naismith was there. I think he had some bad teams and lost to the YMCA the first couple years."
What will Self say this time around, if the Jayhawks were to fall again in Fort Worth? TCU (13-3) went unbeaten in nonconference play, but it's been up to its old tricks—the Horned Frogs were 0-18 in the Big 12 last season—since then.
Both of TCU's conference home games to this point have come against ranked opponents, and after losing by 11 to West Virginia in their opener they went to overtime before falling to Baylor last weekend.
8. Utah
18 of 25
Feb. 19 at Oregon State
Utah (14-2) is playing as well as any team in the country, in the top 10 for the first time since the late 1990s and heading into Saturday's huge showdown at Arizona that could alter the balance of power in the Pac-12.
"If the NCAA tournament started tomorrow, I don't know how you rationalize not taking Utah to the Final Four," Bleacher Report college basketball writer Kerry Miller tweeted Thursday night, during the Utes' 76-59 win at Arizona State.
That ASU win was Utah's first in conference play, and the road will get much tougher. Beyond Arizona, there are still three other two-game road trips, with several places for the Utes to stumble. Arizona did so last weekend at Oregon State, and so could the Utes.
Oregon State (11-5) swept the Arizona schools at home and are 10-0 in Corvallis.
7. Wisconsin
19 of 25
Jan. 24 at Michigan
It's telling of the kind of season Michigan (10-7) is having that it can be considered a potential trap game for a team, but the Wolverines' placement on Wisconsin's schedule makes it so.
Wisconsin (16-2) handily beat Nebraska on Thursday and now has only three more games this month. While that limits the number of games senior guard Traevon Jackson is going to miss after having foot surgery earlier this month, it can also lead to some complacency and sluggishness for the Badgers.
Even more odd is that, of Wisconsin's three remaining games this month, the first and last are against the same team, Iowa. The Badgers face Michigan in between those tilts with the Hawkeyes and could end up getting lost in the shuffle of evaluating the first Iowa-Wisconsin game and preparing for the second.
6. Louisville
20 of 25
Feb. 3 at Miami (Florida)
While the focus of the film Louisville (15-2) has looked at the last two days has been its next opponent, Duke, the Cardinals couldn't help but notice what Miami just did to the Blue Devils on Tuesday night. It's the kind of mayhem they will be dealing with in a few weeks when they make their first trip to south Florida for ACC play.
Louisville has already seen how difficult the road can be in this conference, having to rally late to win at Wake Forest and then losing in the final seconds at North Carolina. The Cardinals also struggled to beat Conference USA's Western Kentucky in their lone nonconference road game.
The trip to Miami will come at the start of a pair of two-game road trips in a five-game swing, right after hosting North Carolina and four days before visiting unbeaten Virginia.
Miami (12-4) has some questionable losses on its ledger, falling at home to Eastern Kentucky and Green Bay, but besides the huge win at Duke the Hurricanes have also won at Florida and took Virginia to overtime at home on Jan. 3.
5. Villanova
21 of 25
Jan. 31 at DePaul
Villanova (16-1) is an overtime setback at Seton Hall away from being unbeaten, the since then the Wildcats have bounced back to win three games by an average of 16 points. That includes beating DePaul by 17 points at home on Jan. 10, the first team in the Big East to beat the Blue Demons after they opened 3-0.
DePaul (9-9) was picked to finish last in the league, yet its fast start turned some heads. The Demons have been hot and cold at home, but their victories include ones over Stanford (by 17) as well as narrow decisions over Big East foes Marquette and Xavier.
Villanova has had a reputation over the years for overlooking some opponents, most notably last March when it was the top seed in the Big East tourney and fell to No. 8 Seton Hall in the quarterfinals.
4. Duke
22 of 25
Jan. 25 at St. John's
Duke (14-1) is coming off its first back-to-back ACC losses in nearly six years, so it would be foolish to think the slumping Blue Devils could be in danger of falling into a trap anytime soon. But amid a very tough stretch coming up is one game that has the chance to get overlooked when compared to the rest of the challenges.
The Blue Devils begin a stretch of four out of five on the road Saturday at Louisville, then after hosting Pittsburgh two days later play three in a row away from home. The first of that trio is in a place where Duke has posted many a big victory over the years, but normally it's not been as a true visitor.
St. John's (12-4) uses Madison Square Garden, site of many notable tournaments over the years, as its home court for its biggest games. Duke already has neutral-site wins in Indianapolis, Brooklyn and East Rutherford, New Jersey this season, but this nonconference game that sits in the middle of ACC play is looming larger than any of the others.
The point of the game is to help keep Duke's footprint in the New York area, but where it ended up on the schedule—and with how Duke is struggling at the moment—makes it a rather unwelcome contest right now.
3. Gonzaga
23 of 25
Feb. 21 at St. Mary's
Gonzaga (17-1) survived what very easily could have been called a trap game on Thursday night, holding off Pepperdine for a 78-76 win on Thursday. It was one of two remaining road games the Bulldogs have this season against teams with winning records.
The other is St. Mary's (14-3), which is 6-0 in the West Coast Conference like Gonzaga. These are the league's perennial top two teams, so the Gaels don't fit the normal bill of a trap opponent because of how good they are and how prepared Gonzaga figures to be for this last remaining tough game on its schedule.
The part of the contest that makes it a trap, though, comes in the ramifications that would come from losing it. Gonzaga is a lock for the NCAA tournament but probably can't hope to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament without running the table between now and March.
2. Virginia
24 of 25
Feb. 2 at North Carolina
Virginia (16-0) is one of two remaining unbeatens left in Division I, and the Cavaliers have been just as successful on the road as when playing in Charlottesville. They have victories over Maryland, Miami, Notre Dame and VCU, showing the fortitude to handle those tough environments.
"If you're going to be a quality ballclub, you have to be willing to be in those settings," Virginia coach Tony Bennett told Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch before the season.
But it's been five years since Virginia won at North Carolina (13-4), a trip that already would have been a tough one if not for when it's located on this year's schedule. The Cavs will have just hosted Duke two days earlier, and five days after heading to Chapel Hill they'll be home for Louisville. Based on where teams are ranked in two weeks, this could be three straight games against Top 10 teams, so the road tilt would make for the toughest of the trio.
1. Kentucky
25 of 25
Feb. 10 at LSU
Top-ranked Kentucky (16-0) has already showed it can be vulnerable when not completely focused, as in back-to-back games last week it needed a combined three overtimes to dispatch teams that are 2-4 so far in SEC play. The Wildcats bounced back with a blowout win over Missouri on Tuesday, but knowing such letdowns are possible means the remaining conference schedule isn't going to be as easy as previously thought.
The game that stands out above all others, though, is when Kentucky heads to Baton Rouge in less than three weeks. The Tuesday night game comes three days after what might be the most challenging road venue, at Florida, and with only a short rest in between even a team as deep and fresh as the Wildcats could hit the wall on a second straight away game.
LSU (13-3) is 9-0 at home this season, though it did need double overtime to beat Georgia at the Maravich Center last time out.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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