An examination of why winning road games has never seemed harder in Big 12 basketball
Something unusual happened in the world of Big 12 basketball on Saturday.
Scratch that. Unusual probably isn’t a strong enough word to describe what transpired when road teams posted a 4-3 record in conference play over the weekend. This season, a statistic like that is unheard of.
Big 12 teams have played a grand total of 85 league games this year, and the home teams have won a whopping 56 of them. Even with Baylor, Cincinnati, Kansas and TCU logging rare victories as road teams on Saturday, Big 12 teams are still winning 66% of the time at home in conference play. Two weeks ago, that number climbed as high as 70%.
A year ago, home teams won 59.5% of their home games nationally. That means it is about 10 percentage points harder to win a road game in the Big 12 than an average conference.
Perhaps Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang put it best when he said a good home-court advantage in this conference is worth 10 points per game, and a great home-court advantage is worth 15.
“I am never surprised,” Tang said, “when a home team wins in this conference.”
Several other Big 12 coaches have echoed that sentiment.
Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger took it personally when Houston was the betting favorite against the Cyclones last month in Ames, and he crowed about it after his team pulled off a home “upset.”
“I’m not real happy about being an underdog,” he said. “Not that we really follow that sort of thing, but nobody is going to call us an underdog at Hilton Coliseum.”
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson called it “sacrilege” that the Cougars were betting favorites at Allen Fieldhouse earlier this month. He was not shocked when Kansas responded with its best effort and protected its home floor.
Then there is Houston, which might have the biggest home advantage of all. Not only are the Cougars undefeated at home, they have won all of their games by at least 15 points.
A mixture of talented teams and rowdy crowds has created a perfect storm in the Big 12 this season, making it much harder than usual for anyone to win on the road. Six different Big 12 teams were ranked in the top 25 last week and eight different Big 12 teams have been averaging more than 10,000 fans at their home games.
“Top to bottom our league is better and the environments are better and we are all a little bit older, too,” Tang said. “I don’t know how it is in other conferences, I just know that we don’t look and say, ‘Man, I can’t wait to go on that road game.’”
It truly does seem like some teams in the Big 12 should always be expected to win at home right now. Iowa State (15-0), Houston (13-0) and Kansas (13-0) are all undefeated at home this season. Two other Big 12 teams (Baylor and Texas Tech) have only lost once at home this season. Two more (BYU and TCU) only have two blemishes on their home records.
Those are the top seven teams in the Big 12 standings. Coincidence? I think not. They have combined to go 92-6 at home.
Thing is, even the teams at the bottom of the standings are tough to beat inside their own arenas.
All seven teams listed about have struggled on the road. Kansas is just 2-5 on the road in conference play. A 79-50 loss at Texas Tech served as an exclamation mark on their road woes, especially when coach Bill Self was ejected from the game.
No Big 12 team currently has a winning road record in conference play. Houston, TCU and Texas lead the pack at 3-3.
UCF and West Virginia both took down KU in their gyms. Oklahoma State just trounced BYU by double digits at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Baylor and KU both lost at K-State.
No game can be taken for granted.
“This is the best league in America,” Tang said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
TCU is arguably the hottest road team in the league after its 75-72 win at K-State on Saturday.
“Good teams and good atmospheres,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said of playing on the road in the Big 12. “I think every game we have played in has been packed. We have won some good ones. We went to triple overtime at Baylor, but every game is close down the stretch.”
K-State, which is 1-5 on the road in conference play, must try to win away from home as it looks to salvage it season with a trip to Texas next on the schedule at 8 p.m. Monday at Moody Center.
The Wildcats steamrolled the Longhorns 116-103 a year ago in Austin, so maybe they can draw some inspiration from that performance. But that victory also came during a different time when Big 12 road games didn’t seem as intimidating as they do right now.
This story was originally published February 18, 2024 at 12:11 PM.