Ranking the 10 Worst Losses So Far in the 2016-17 College Basketball Season

No one likes to lose, but in many instances, something good can come from a defeat. These are not examples of that.

We're about a month into the 2016-17 season and, as is the case every year, we've had quite a few head-turning results. The nonconference portion of the schedule features a large helping of projected mismatches, but some major underdogs end up pulling shockers and in some of those high-profile contests what was expected to be a close game instead is a blowout.

We've ranked 10 of the worst losses to happen so far, listed in order of how surprising the outcomes were and how bad it was for the losing team.

10. Delaware State 79, St. John's 72

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At 5-5 and riding a three-game win streak, St. John's has nearly matched its win total (eight) from a year ago when it was one of the worst Power Five Conference teams in the country. The Red Storm still have a long ways to go, but in losses to Michigan State and VCU at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, they showed some noticeable progress.

And then came a return to reality, in the form of a harrowing home loss to one of the lowest-rated teams in Division I. At No. 336 in the KenPom rankings, Delaware State is the lowest-ranked team that a power-conference school has lost to this season.

The Hornets, who were 7-25 last season and are 2-8 this year, last beat a power team in November 2014 when it won at Wake Forest.

9. Duquesne 64, Pittsburgh 55

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Known as The City Game, Duquesne and Pittsburgh have played 84 times since 1932 in a crosstown battle that Pitt has dominated this century. Since Duquesne won 71-70 at home in December 2000, the Panthers had claimed the next 15 games by an average of 16.1 points.

Pitt had just won 73-59 at then-unbeaten Maryland to help the ACC win the Big Ten/ACC Challenge when it met the Dukes at the neutral PPG Paints Arena in downtown Pittsburgh. Duquesne came in with a 3-5 record that included home losses to Canisius, Tennessee-Martin and Maryland-Baltimore County.

It had all the making of another blowout win for Pitt, but instead, Duquesne chose then to play its cleanest (season-low seven turnovers) and best defensive game of the season. The Panthers, who are averaging 77.8 points per game and shoot 46 percent, made only 33 percent of their shots and were 3-of-22 from three-point range.

8. Miami (Florida) 94, North Florida 56

North Florida has been playing Division I basketball since 2005 and made its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2014-15, but for the most part, it's a relatively unknown program, and even in their own state, the Ospreys struggle for publicity against the likes of Florida, Florida State and Miami.

That meant being able to secure home games this season against two of those in-state powers was a huge boon for the program as it tries to gain more recognition. Even if North Florida didn't beat either Florida or Miami, if it competed, well then, it could serve as a springboard for another run to the NCAA tourney.

Instead, the Osprey suffered the worst home loss by any D-I team so far this season on Nov. 16. And because they'd lost by 38 it made their 91-60 home loss to Florida on Dec. 1 (which is the fourth-worst such result in 2016-17) only slightly less embarrassing.

7. Utah Valley 114, BYU 101

BYU is routinely one of the highest-scoring teams in the country, averaging 86.6 points per game this season and ranking ninth in Division I at 83.6 per game a year ago. The Cougars have held opponents to an impressive 39.3 percent shooting during a 6-3 start, with eight opponents failing to top 45.5 percent from the field.

The major exception: Utah Valley, which shot 52.9 percent and was 18-of-37 from three-point range in its shocking Nov. 26 win in Provo, Utah.

College basketball analytics guru Ken Pomeroy ranked this as the biggest upset of November in terms of its likelihood of happening ahead of time, giving it a 1.2 percent chance since he had BYU rated 45th in the country while the Wolverines were 306th.

Since then, we know a little more about each team, and as of Friday, Utah Valley (5-3) has risen to No. 238 after playing well in losses at Pac-12 schools Washington State and Utah while BYU has slipped to 60th as its offense has become less efficient. But the impact of the loss for the Cougars is still the same: They'll probably need to win the West Coast Conference—which means getting past ranked teams Gonzaga and Saint Mary's—to have a shot at making the NCAA tournament.

6. Wagner 67, Connecticut 58

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Knowing what we do now, Connecticut shouldn't have been ranked in the preseason Associated Press poll, let alone as high as 18th. Voters were hopeful coach Kevin Ollie could turn a young team into a contender in the American Athletic Conference, but instead the Huskies are 4-4 and are facing a tough road ahead with two key players (guards Alterique Gilbert and Terry Larrier) having suffered season-ending injuries.

UConn was at full strength for its season opener, though, and the Gilbert/Larrier duo combined for 33 points on 11-of-20 shooting. It was the rest of the Huskies who struggled, going 9-of-36 from the field as they trailed almost the entire game.

Wagner was 23-11 last season but hasn't exactly been a world-beater in 2016-17, sitting at 2-5 with losses to Massachusetts-Lowell and Fairfield right after beating UConn. The Huskies also lost right after that, falling at home to Northeastern to start 0-2 for the first time since 1968.

5. Iowa State 130, the Citadel 63

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Duggar Baucom has made a name for himself in college basketball for his penchant for pushing the pace. In 10 seasons at Virginia Military Institute and the last two years at The Citadel, Baucom's teams have averaged at least 80 points per game nine times and, in 2016-17, are tops in the country at 105.4 points per game.

The Bulldogs are 7-4 this season with four wins against Division I schools, including a 116-112 victory at Stetson on Nov. 18 that snapped an eight-game road losing streak. That had them brimming with confidence for the first of three games this season against power-conference competition.

But any thought of being able to hang with Iowa State went out the window quickly as The Citadel trailed 62-22 at the half. Its shoot-as-quickly-as-possible style isn't so effective when shooting 27.3 percent from the field and turning it over 17 times, nor does it help when the opponent shoots 60.5 percent.

The Citadel was far more competitive in its next game against a power foe, falling 127-117 at Arizona State on Nov. 23. Its next game is at Virginia Tech on Dec. 17.

4. IPFW 71, Indiana 68 (OT)

There's a reason top-tier programs don't play many true road games outside of their conference, particularly against non-power teams. It's a no-win situation, and one that has plenty of negative consequences, as Indiana found out on Nov. 22.

The Hoosiers' trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana was part of a five-team round robin tournament (the Indiana Classic) as well as a two-for-one series with IPFW that saw it lose in Bloomington last season and will include a trip there in 2018-19. And though the game was in one of two arenas where the Mastodons play their home games, Indiana was in charge of ticket sales and as a result had roughly 80 percent of the 11,076 fans in attendance.

In short, that meant Indiana was the de facto home team on the road, which made falling to a team from the Summit League even more shocking.

IPFW controlled the game almost throughout, leading by two at halftime and leading by five with 2:38 left. Indiana tied it with 19 seconds to go, though, and forced the Mastodons into a bad final shot to send it to overtime. Each team hit a three-pointer in the first minute of OT, but after that, Indiana missed its final five attempts while Fort Wayne went 3-of-4 from the line to help set up one of the smallest court-storming celebrations ever.

3. Kentucky 115, Arizona State 69

Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley isn't lacking for confidence, and his second Sun Devils team is one that could be capable of making some waves in the Pac-12 thanks to some promising freshmen and the addition of his best player (guard Shannon Evans) from his previous gig at Buffalo. And maybe he felt the best way to prepare that squad for conference play was to put them through the ringer in non-league action.

Which meant going on three long trips east in November and December to face tough competition, including a strange one-off game against top-ranked Kentucky played in a ballroom inside a tropical resort.

ASU and the Wildcats met Nov. 26 at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, where the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament was held the week before. It was considered a showcase game for both teams, though ended up being almost exclusively an opportunity for Kentucky's latest heralded freshman class to beef up their highlight reel.

The Sun Devils shot 34.2 percent and trailed 58-30 at halftime, ending up allowing 100 points in consecutive games for the first time in school history. Eight days later, another trip east, to play No. 18 Purdue in the Jimmy V Classic in New York, resulted in a 97-64 loss.

2. West Virginia 100, New Hampshire 41

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New Hampshire is coming off its best season in school history, winning 20 games while tying for third in the America East Conference. The Wildcats were picked to finish second in the league this season, and if things go their way, they could end up in the NCAA tournament for the first time.

Thankfully, they won't have to face any more teams—or styles of play—like that of West Virginia between now and then.

New Hampshire is 6-3 and has a win at Temple on its resume, but on Nov. 20, it was no match for the chaotic swarming defense known as "Press Virginia." The Mountaineers forced the Wildcats into 34 turnovers, 15 more than in any other game this season, and rendered America East Player of the Year candidate Jaleen Smith completely ineffective.

Smith, a 6'4” senior guard, is averaging 15.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He's played all 40 minutes against every Division I foe this season except West Virginia, which held him scoreless and caused him to foul out with five turnovers in 27 minutes of action. Three days later, Smith notched a triple-double in a win over Detroit.

1. Florida Atlantic 79, Ohio State 77 (OT)

It's not as impressive as Duke's 131-game nonconference home win streak, but under coach Thad Matta, Ohio State has been almost unbeatable at Value City Arena. Until the last two seasons, that is, as in 2015-16 the Buckeyes lost four non-Big Ten games in Columbus (including three in a row), but each was to a team that would go on to win 20 games.

Don't expect the same success to happen for Florida Atlantic, which hasn't had a winning record since 2010-11 and was 8-25 last season. The Owls came into their Dec. 6 game at OSU with a 2-5 mark with only one victory over a Division I school, yet they led by as many as six in the first half and used a 14-0 run in the second half to go up 61-58 with 5:53 to go.

FAU turned it over on its final possession of regulation and missed its first three shots in overtime before getting hot. It was Nick Rutherford's banked jumper with one second left that gave the Owls their first win in nine tries against Big Ten schools.

For OSU, the loss came less than a week after it nearly won at sixth-ranked Virginia in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and dropped it to 7-2 ahead of games against Connecticut and No. 2 UCLA. The Buckeyes, who missed the NCAA tournament last season, will probably need to finish .500 or better in Big Ten play to ensure getting back into the tourney.

All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com, unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.