Droughts over the decades
Scoring droughts are at an 18-season low: 1.44 per team-game in 2025-26, down 24% from the 2014-15 peak
Droughts per team-game in D1-vs-D1 men's games, 2008-09 to 2025-26. A drought is 3:00+ without a made basket.
Filled dots: 85%+ of D1 games have play-by-play. Hollow: partial seasons (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13). The axis starts at 1.3.
What changed
2025-26's 1.44 droughts per team-game is the lowest of any season since 2008-09, the first season with play-by-play for at least 60% of games. The 2008-09 to 2012-13 seasons cover only 60–69% of games, so their rates are less certain than the later seasons' (86–100%).
Droughts are down 17% over four seasons, from 1.73 per team-game in 2021-22 to 1.44.
In the three seasons after the 30-second shot clock arrived (2015-16 to 2017-18), droughts averaged 1.59 per team-game, 12% below the 1.81 of the three seasons before (2012-13 to 2014-15). The 2015-16 rules package also widened the restricted arc and cut timeouts, and 2014-15 was the most drought-heavy season in the table: the drop coincided with the rules, which is not proof the clock caused it.
Long droughts fell faster: 5:00+ droughts went from 0.27 per team-game in 2008-09 to 0.16 in 2025-26 (-41%). The typical drought barely changed: the median ran 3:37–3:42 every season.
Season by season
| Season | Droughts per team-game | Games logged | Share of D1 games | Median length | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-09 | 1.84 | 3,449 | 67% (partial) | 3:42 | |
| 2009-10 | 1.79 | 3,540 | 69% (partial) | 3:42 | |
| 2010-11 | 1.83 | 3,202 | 62% (partial) | 3:40 | |
| 2011-12 | 1.87 | 3,222 | 60% (partial) | 3:41 | |
| 2012-13 | 1.87 | 3,479 | 68% (partial) | 3:41 | |
| 2013-14 | 1.66 | 4,649 | 86% | 3:40 | Hand-check emphasis |
| 2014-15 | 1.89 | 4,801 | 89% | 3:42 | |
| 2015-16 | 1.57 | 4,951 | 92% | 3:39 | 30-second shot clock, wider arc, fewer timeouts |
| 2016-17 | 1.60 | 5,057 | 93% | 3:37 | |
| 2017-18 | 1.60 | 4,925 | 92% | 3:39 | |
| 2018-19 | 1.66 | 4,795 | 91% | 3:40 | |
| 2019-20 | 1.74 | 4,971 | 93% | 3:40 | No NCAA tournament |
| 2020-21 | 1.68 | 3,728 | 94% | 3:38 | Shortened season |
| 2021-22 | 1.73 | 5,291 | 96% | 3:39 | |
| 2022-23 | 1.67 | 5,591 | 98% | 3:39 | |
| 2023-24 | 1.54 | 5,584 | 98% | 3:37 | |
| 2024-25 | 1.54 | 5,556 | 96% | 3:38 | |
| 2025-26 | 1.44 | 5,634 | 100% | 3:37 | Full season, production data |
How we counted
A scoring drought is 3:00+ of game clock without a made field goal or free throw. A run that lasts to the final horn, or that starts at the tip before a team's first basket, is not counted. Only games between two D1 teams count. 2008-09 to 2024-25 come from ESPN play-by-play (the ncaahoopR archive) run through the same drought engine as the live site; 2025-26 is the site's own full season (5,634 games). On the 1,823 games of 2025-26 in both sources, the two matched in 1,822. Seasons before 2008-09 are left out: under 60% of their games have play-by-play. Opponent points during a drought are not shown as a trend: they also depend on league-wide scoring, which this table does not measure.