Getting excited for hoops again (understandably after Saturday!
) and I was thinking about something interesting. What would you say was the single "best win" and "worst loss" of each
regular season of the Underwood Era since 2019-20? We've had some real highs and (thankfully not as many) lows, and I thought this would be fun. This list is also MEANT to be subjective ... for example, maybe a given loss is the worst from a Quad/NET perspective, but another loss just hit so much harder.
Mine take into account the context, such as how badly we needed a win, the way in which we won/lost, the statement it made about our team, etc. I also limited it to the regular season for obvious reasons ... like, DUH beating Iowa State in the Sweet Sixteen is gonna win that year!
2019-20
Best Win: W 78-76 vs. #18 Iowa ... Kofi blocking Garza at the buzzer in the last game of the season to clinch the double bye in the BTT, a game that would be a rematch with Iowa when this rivalry was really gaining steam again?? This was just so epic, haha. It's such a shame COVID cut this season short, because I honestly think this team was primed for a run.
Worst Loss: L 56-63 vs. Missouri (St. Louis, MO) ... This game was SUCH a stinker, and I watched it alone while my wife was asleep (she worked nights back then). We looked like we didn't even want to be there, and it dropped us to 8-4. At this point, it honestly looked like making the NCAA Tournament (that of course wasn't to be) was going to be an uphill climb. Of course, starting on January 5, we would rattle off 7 straight wins!
2020-21
Best Win: W 76-53 at #2 Michigan ... Enough said. Michigan fans talked SO much smack all year about how they were going to dominate us, and once Ayo was out it was an even surer thing. The controversy about Michigan not making up its postponed games added fuel to the fire, and the hype for this was huge ... and we went in there and utterly embarrassed them. Probably still the biggest "statement win" we've had since Wake Forest in the 2005 season.
Worst Loss: L 63-66 vs. Maryland ... This one doesn't need much explanation. It dropped us to 9-4 (soon 9-5 after a home loss to OSU a few days later) and nearly out of the top 25. Honestly, the fact that we would go on to get a #1 seed is truly astounding, and no one would have believed you in mid-January!
2021-22
Best Win: W 74-72 vs. #24 Iowa ... I actually considered statement road wins at Indiana and MSU, but man this one just felt so cathartic for our fan base. After Wisconsin inexplicably lost to Nebrasketball at home earlier in the day, all of a sudden we had a real shot at a Big Ten championship. To beat Iowa in such a thriller and see our fans flood the court as we won our first regular season championship in 17 years felt so good.
Worst Loss: L 51-71 vs. Cincinnati (Kansas City, MO) ... This was right after the late-game collapse at Marquette, and it dropped us to 2-2. People were rightfully wondering what the HELL had happened, and it felt like this was our Season 8 of Game of Thrones where things just got SO much worse than we could have imagined.
2022-23
Best Win: vs. #8 UCLA (Las Vegas, NV) ... I know most might say upsetting #2 Texas at MSG, but this was the TSJ coming out party, and it was so fun to watch. I truly believed we had a team on our hands that was going to make a deep run in March after this one.
Worst Loss: L 65-80 vs. Indiana ... Lotta contenders in this season, but this one was the biggest stinker for me. We had won 4 straight to get back to 13-5 and seemingly "on track," and we had an electric environment to welcome the Hoosiers to the House of 'Paign. We proceeded to play like we could not care ANY less if we won or lost and got blown out at home.
2023-24
Best Win: vs. #11 FAU (New York, NY) ... Sure, FAU turned out to be overrated, but they were a top 15 team at this point that everyone had beating us, and they honestly looked the part ... we were just even better! This was a super exciting game to watch, and it seemed like a real statement that we were clearly head-and-shoulders better than our 2022-23 selves.
Worst Loss: L 67-76 vs. Maryland ... I know some would pick the collapse at PSU, but it was honestly so fluky, haha. This Maryland game was just a dud where we could never get anything going. Granted, we were still without TSJ, but it was one of those games where NOBODY would step up and will us to a victory. The fact it was another loss vs. Maryland was pretty hard to take, too.
2024-25
Best Win: W 88-80 vs. #18 Purdue ... There are many other contenders here, such as the historic win at Oregon and destroying Michigan at their place to keep the streak alive. However, I think FINALLY getting over the hump vs. Purdue in the last game of the season was important for our fans' collective psyche. Not only was it a massive Quad 1 win that probably solidified our spot above that 8/9 seed line, but it also totally seemed like the type of game vs. Purdue where we would just fade down the stretch and lose another heart breaker ... but then we pulled it out!
Worst Loss: L 71-90 vs. Maryland ... Unfortunately, there was so much competition here. People will obviously choose Duke (objectively our worst loss ever, lol...), the stinker in Madison, our embarrassing collapse vs. MSU when we desperately needed a win, etc. However, this is one of the few games I have watched in the Underwood Era where I genuinely felt our team just didn't give a crap. We looked like boys playing against men, and our effort on our home floor was nothing short of embarrassing. Did Maryland turn out to be really good? Yes, of course. However, you can ALWAYS bring fight, and we brought none.
