Normally, when one team blocks a lot of shots and its opponent doesn’t block any, it leads to a large victory. The blocks themselves may only be a small contribution to the final margin. But the block dominance suggests that one team has a significant advantage in size and athleticism, and that advantage normally manifests itself in a lopsided basketball game after 40 minutes of competition.
But not all games follow this script. Washington is a team that will block a lot of shots this season and may not be terribly good and Yale is a team that won’t block many shots this season and is not all that bad. The two bucked the trend on Sunday as indicated by the following compendium of the 35 games over the past 16 seasons where one team blocked at least 13 shots while the other blocked none. (Before you ask: The list doesn’t work as well using 12 blocks.)
Date Team1 Blocks1 Team2 Blocks2 Result MOV 2001-12-15 Rutgers 15 UMBC 0 W 67-51 +16 2002-01-19 Hofstra 13 William & Mary 0 W 68-59 + 9 2002-11-17 Notre Dame 19 Belmont 0 W 76-48 +28 2002-12-28 Syracuse 13 Albany 0 W 109-79 +30 2003-02-23 Binghamton 13 Northeastern 0 W 66-54 +12 2003-02-27 Troy St. 13 Stetson 0 W 117-70 +47 2005-02-19 Saint Joseph's 14 St. Bonaventure 0 W 65-47 +18 2005-12-21 Syracuse 16 Illinois Chicago 0 W 75-61 +14 2006-12-09 Kansas 15 Toledo 0 W 68-58 +10 2007-01-10 Massachusetts 13 George Washington 0 W 91-84 + 7 2006-11-21 George Washington 14 Kennesaw St. 0 W 69-52 +17 2007-11-17 UNC Asheville 16 Campbell 0 W 83-71 +12 2007-11-17 Massachusetts 13 Green Bay 0 W 93-78 +15 2008-11-15 Clemson 14 TCU 0 W 70-58 +12 2009-12-05 Syracuse 14 Maine 0 W 101-55 +46 2009-12-29 Furman 14 Utah Valley 0 W 77-69 + 8 2009-12-30 Saint Mary's 17 Howard 0 W 94-46 +48 2009-11-11 Syracuse 14 Robert Morris 0 W 100-60 +40 2009-11-13 Minnesota 15 Tennessee Tech 0 W 87-50 +37 2009-12-16 Mississippi St. 13 Wright St. 0 W 80-69 +11 2010-03-03 Kentucky 14 Georgia 0 W 80-68 +12 2011-03-05 UC Santa Barbara 14 Cal Poly 0 W 49-43 + 6 2011-11-11 Connecticut 13 Columbia 0 W 70-57 +13 2011-11-11 Illinois 13 Loyola Chicago 0 W 67-49 +18 2011-11-20 Florida St. 14 South Alabama 0 W 80-39 +41 2011-12-28 Syracuse 15 Seton Hall 0 W 75-49 +26 2012-01-14 Green Bay 14 Wright St. 0 W 57-56 + 1 2012-02-25 UC Irvine 13 Cal St. Northridge 0 W 94-85 + 9 2012-12-22 UNLV 13 Canisius 0 W 89-74 +15 2013-11-19 St. John's 13 Bucknell 0 W 67-63 + 4 2013-11-27 New Mexico St. 14 Prairie View A&M 0 W 91-60 +31 2013-12-30 Wagner 15 Monmouth 0 W 59-52 + 7 2014-11-19 St. John's 14 LIU Brooklyn 0 W 66-53 +13 2016-11-11 Oregon 13 Army 0 W 91-77 +14 2016-11-13 Washington 15 Yale 0 L 90-98 - 8