March Madness: Biggest blowout in national championship game
College basketball fans love March Madness for the drama, buzzer-beaters and close games. But there have been some national championship game blowouts.
When college basketball fans think about the March Madness final and the national championship game, you think of the two best teams in the NCAA Tournament battling it out to cut down the nets. But as Georgia and TCU taught us in college football, just because it’s the two most deserving teams playing for the title doesn’t mean you won’t get a blowout.
Whether it’s a mismatch, a hot team seeing their run come to an end, a hot team staying white-hot and running through everyone, or just the right confluence of events for a blowout, it’s something that happens.
But what are the biggest blowout victories in the history of the national championship game in March Madness? Let’s take a look.
Biggest blowout in national championship game of March Madness
The biggest blowout in the history of the March Madness final came in the 1990 NCAA Tournament when the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels absolutely plastered the Duke Blue Devils to the tune of a 103-73 blowout. Coach K and Duke clearly recovered, though, winning the next two titles, including beating Michigan and Fab Five by 20 (71-51) in 1992.
That second win for Duke actually stands as one of just four men’s college basketball national championship games that has been decided by 20+ points. UNLV’s 1990 win, Duke’s 1992 win, and then John Wooden’s UCLA in 1968 (78-55 over North Carolina) and 1969 (92-72 over Purdue) are the only games to feature a blowout of that level.
Since the turn of the century, though, there truly haven’t been many blowout games in the national championship game. Only seven of the title games out of the 22 that have been played have been decided by double-digits. Villanova beating Michigan in 2018 (79-62) and then North Carolina beating Michigan State in 2009 (89-72) are tied for the biggest margin of victory since 2000. The last double-digit game was in 2021 with Baylor beating Gonzaga 86-70.
As we saw in the college football National Championship Game, though, blowouts can happen in the biggest game of the year.
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