How Mississippi Valley State, with a schedule that went viral, notched its 'best loss' in 14 years

Mississippi Valley State is playing one of the toughest nonconference schedules in college basketball

Nov 10, 2026 at 11:47 am ET • 1 min read

Mississippi Valley State is in the midst of one of the toughest nonconference and most grueling schedules in college basketball. The Delta Devils don't have a home game until Jan. 9 and will begin the season by playing 16 consecutive road games with only buy games on the slate.

On Monday, Mississippi Valley State recorded one of its "best losses" in over a decade during a 77-64 defeat against Washington. It marked the first time since 2012 the Delta Devils lost a game by less than 15 points against high-major competition. The last time that happened was during the 2012-13 campaign when MVSU lost 86-81 to Northwestern on the road. It also snapped a streak of 57 consecutive losses to high-major opponents by at least 15 points.

Mississippi Valley State — a team coming off a 3-30 season with the lone wins coming against Mississippi U for Women, Texas Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff — has several high-major games remaining before conference play begins at the turn of the calendar year.

Inside the most absurd nonconference schedule: Why Mississippi Valley State has no home games for two months

Isaac Trotter

Notable games Mississippi Valley State will play during the next month and a half include matchups against Oregon, Oregon State, Arkansas, Michigan, UConn, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Texas Tech and Baylor. The Delta Devils' first home game is against Prairie View A&M.

Mississippi Valley State will earn upward of $100,000 apiece in those buy games. In total, MVSU has now played 1,457 basketball games since results were tracked in 1978. It has never beaten a high-major opponent. Although the loss against Washington will count the same on the stat sheet, it will go down as MVSU's most competitive defeat against high-major competition in over a decade.