Home-court advantage has disappeared for Big 12 basketball teams this season
Bruce Weber chose his words carefully with his Kansas State basketball players before they made their first road trip of the season last month.
He could have talked about the unique challenges they were about to face or he could have reminded them that his best teams have always been road warriors. Instead, the ninth-year coach ignored the game’s location completely.
“They don’t need to think about that,” Weber said at the time. “They have got enough other things to worry about.”
Another explanation would have also sufficed: home court isn’t much of an advantage this season.
“The road is a little different,” Weber said. “I don’t think it is quite as much a factor.”
Playing on the road has never been easier for a college basketball team than it is right now, especially in the Big 12. Early results have shown that home arenas are no longer fortresses when you remove fans, crowd noise and influenced referees. With teams playing in mostly empty arenas because of the coronavirus pandemic, road teams are flexing their muscles like never before in conference play.
Road teams are 8-4 in Big 12 men’s games this season. Last year, they finished 33-57.
More than half the league (Baylor, Kansas, K-State, TCU, Texas and Texas Tech) is undefeated in Big 12 road games. And Texas just pulled off a rare blowout victory at Allen Fieldhouse. The sight of KU coach Bill Self burying his head in his hands at the end of an 84-59 loss in Lawrence should make any conference road game seem less intimidating.
The Wildcats know about the lessening importance of home-court advantage better than most. They have lost games against Drake, Colorado, UNLV, Fort Hays State, Baylor and TCU at Bramlage Coliseum, but they turned heads by whipping Iowa State 74-65 in their lone road game at Hilton Coliseum in mid December.
Beating Iowa State on the road is usually a challenge for K-State, as Weber’s teams were previously 2-6 in Ames. But the Wildcats played loose and won with ease this time around.
Now, some of that can be explained by Iowa State’s struggles. The Cyclones are off to a 2-5 start. But it probably would have been much more difficult for the Wildcats to have beaten them in a packed crowd of cardinal and gold.
Empty arenas and have turned every hostile road environment into a neutral court. There are no ear-piercing roars leading up to tip-off at Allen Fieldhouse, no student section bearing down on opponents at Bramlage Coliseum and no fans to boo the opposing team’s best player every time he touches the ball at WVU Coliseum.
Aside from avoiding two days of travel, there isn’t much advantage to playing at home this season.
K-State hopes that trend continues when it travels to play Texas Tech at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at United Supermarkets Arena.
Only three teams had a winning record in Big 12 road games last season. K-State and Iowa State both went winless, while TCU went 1-8 and West Virginia went 2-7.
That isn’t happening during COVID-19.
“We didn’t get a road win last year at all,” Weber said. “We got one right away (this year). I’m happy for them, but obviously we have to keep moving forward.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 2:25 PM.