Brick City revisits worst hoops blowouts

College basketball history was made this week. On Tuesday night, Western Carolina defeated Toccoa Falls College -- a tiny Christian school in rural north Georgia -- 141-39. The 102-point margin of victory is the third-largest in Division I history.

Here's a list of the worst blowouts in D-I history for your enjoyment/pity:

No. 10 (tie): 93 points; Furman 126, Virginia Intermont 33

Dec. 29, 2004: The Paladins shot 70 percent from the field and made 21 3-pointers, while Virginia Intermont made only 19 shots total -- field goals and free throws combined. One game later, Furman shot 31 percent from the floor and made only six 3s in a 16-point loss to Indiana. The lesson: Indiana basketball > Virginia Intermont basketball. Try to remember this.

No. 10 (tie): 93 points; Washington 100, Puget Sound 7

Jan. 14, 1921: Puget Sound's official team website has no mention of the basketball program prior to 1946. Perhaps this game is why. They needed 25 years to recuperate.



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No. 9: 94 points; Southern 159, Texas College 65

Dec. 6, 1990: After a relatively competitive 63-38 first half, Southern outscored the Steers 96-27 in the second half. We can assume Texas College's head coach never used the same halftime pep talk again. It apparently was rather ineffective.

No. 8: 95 points; Oklahoma 146, Northeastern Ill. 51

Dec. 2, 1989: Northeastern Illinois opened the game with a 4-2 lead, but then things got a bit out of hand. Trailing by those two points, the Sooners responded with a 31-2 run. Later in the game they went on 10-0, 15-0, 8-0, 18-0 and 14-0 runs. However, if you just take away those combined runs of 96-2, Northeastern Illinois only would have lost 50-49 -- a near upset! Good job, fellas!


No. 7: 96 points; Western Kentucky 103, Adairville Independents 7

Jan. 10, 1923: E.A. Diddle coached 42 seasons at Western Kentucky, winning 759 games and 32 conference championships. This was his first game on the job. You could say it was a fairly promising start to his tenure.

No. 5 (tie): 97 points; Winthrop 130, Johnson & Wales 33

Dec. 7, 1996: Four days earlier, Winthrop had lost 57-28 to NC State. Mercifully, Johnson & Wales wasn't on NC State's schedule.

No. 5 (tie): 97 points; Southern 154, Patten 57

Nov. 26, 1993: The Jaguars put up 154 points on Patten and went on to score 148 that season against Louisiana Christian and 142 against Paul Quinn (Texas) College. But they could also beat the big boys. In the first round of the 1993 NCAA tournament, 13-seeded Southern upset ACC champion Georgia Tech 93-78. Coach Ben Jobe said he had a motto: "Kill a gnat with a sledgehammer." For many people, the gnat that Jobe killed was their NCAA brackets.

No. 4: 101 points; Texas 102, San Marcos Baptist 1

Jan. 10, 1916: Whoever made that one free throw for San Marcos Baptist must have been a big hero back on campus at the boarding school. Yes, San Marcos Baptist Academy was -- and is -- a boarding school for teenagers. Scheduling this game probably didn't do much to help the Longhorns' 1916 RPI.

No. 3: 102 points; Western Carolina 141, Toccoa Falls 39

Jan. 17, 2012: Western Carolina outrebounded Toccoa Falls 58-16. It also managed a slight turnover edge, giving the ball over fives times to the Eagles' 27 turnovers. Here are two minutes of highlights from the Catamounts' victory. (May not be safe for work if your employer bans the viewing of snuff films.)

No. 2: 106 points; Purdue 112, Indiana State 6

Jan. 10, 1911: Purdue played the Sycamores six times before 1911 and had gone 6-0, winning by an average score of 49-12 but really laid it on Indiana State in this matchup. The Boilermakers must have had a very talented team that year. Wait ... 101 years ago? Yep. That was probably Robbie Hummel's freshman season.

No. 1: 117 points; Long Island 179, Medgar Evers 62

Nov. 26, 1997: LIU used nonstop defensive pressure to destroy its Division III Brooklyn neighbor for the biggest margin of victory in D-I history. The Blackbirds had 39 steals and forced 60 turnovers -- or one turnover every 40 seconds. Yikes. LIU coach Ray Haskins expressed regret over the margin of victory several days later: "It wasn't by design, and what made it difficult was our style of play. I'm not proud of this, because to me, it's like a prize fighter beating up his little brother." Medgar Evers was very fortunate that LIU didn't have a boxing team. Getting knocked out hurts more than getting dunked on.

Western Carolina inspires Brick City comment on the worst Division I men's basketball blowouts - ESPN