A trend has developed in college basketball this season of top-10 teams losing road games to unranked opponents. It’s happening a lot — more than ever, actually. And it happened again Thursday night inside Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Final score: Nebraska 80, Wisconsin 72 in OT.
Nebraska overcame a 19-point deficit to upset Wisconsin, which entered on a three-game winning streak. The Badgers shot just 36% from the field in the second half. They had 10 turnovers and 11 field goals in a rough final 20 minutes.
“I thought we got completely away from what makes us good,” said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard, whose Badgers are down to No. 5 in Friday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. “The shots we settled for at times, turning the ball over and gambling defensively when we didn’t need to gamble … just doing some very uncharacteristic things.”
Nebraska’s win means teams ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll are now 25-30 this season on the road against unranked opponents. That’s a winning percentage of 45.5, which is 27.8 percentage-points lower than the historical percentage at which top-10 teams have traditionally won road games against unranked opponents. It’s also 16.5 percentage-points lower than the all-time worst winning percentage in a season by top 10 teams in road games against unranked opponents.
It’s a pattern to keep an eye on.
Things won’t get easier for Wisconsin this weekend because the Badgers are hosting Purdue, which remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 for the 23rd consecutive day. Tip for that one is scheduled for Sunday at 1 pm ET on CBS. The winner will be alone in first atop the Big Ten standings.
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