{"id":164730,"date":"2022-12-22T00:55:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T00:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/iowa-takes-on-a-historic-loss-as-a-31-5-point-favorite\/"},"modified":"2022-12-22T00:55:03","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T00:55:03","slug":"iowa-takes-on-a-historic-loss-as-a-31-5-point-favorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/iowa-takes-on-a-historic-loss-as-a-31-5-point-favorite\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa takes on a historic loss as a 31.5-point favorite"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Maryland-Baltimore County pulled off perhaps the most famous upset in men’s college basketball history, becoming the first No. 16 seeds to beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, UMBC was a 20-point underdog.<\/p>\n

The largest upset in the NCAA tournament this century, in terms of the point spread, was Norfolk State as a 21.5-point underdog over Missouri in a 15 vs. 2 upsets.<\/p>\n

That should put Iowa’s loss on Wednesday into perspective.<\/p>\n

Iowa was a 31.5-point favorite over Eastern Illinois at BetMGM. KenPom.com had Iowa projected to win by 32. And the Hawkeyes lost, 92-83. Eastern Illinois beat the spread by 40.5 points.<\/p>\n

Again, UMBC’s spread against Virginia was 11.5 points lower than the one Eastern Illinois faced on Wednesday. Eastern Illinois, ranked 348th of 363 Division I teams at KenPom.com, can claim the biggest point spread upset in at least 30 years according to ESPN Stats and Info (via Max Meyer of Caesars Sports<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This one won’t be remembered like some classic NCAA tournament upsets, but it is historic.<\/p>\n

Eastern Illinois, which ranked 354th in the nation in offensive efficiency, made 30-of-45 2-point shots. Iowa was cold from behind the 3-point line, hitting just 7-of-33. That was pretty much the difference in an upset that we might not see duplicated for a long time.<\/p>\n

Eastern Illinois, which is 4-9 this season, probably isn’t going to go on to a big season in the Ohio Valley Conference. But their players can say they pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever.<\/p>\n

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