What's a Drought Worth?
When a team goes scoreless for 3+ minutes, the opponent keeps scoring unanswered points. Drought Impact measures exactly how many points opponents scored during each team's scoreless stretches — a direct read on how much going cold hurts.
Metric: drought impact = unanswered opponent points during scoreless stretch
Avg Drought Impact
14.2
Avg opp pts scored during droughts
Median Drought Impact
13.6
Half of droughts cost more
Max Single Drought
60.3
Costliest this season
Total Droughts
17,569
2025-26 season
Who Pays the Most?
Average opponent points scored during a team's scoring droughts (min. 5 droughts this season).
Top 5 teams by avg points surrendered during droughts.
| Team | vs. | Longest Drought | Pts Surrendered | Severity | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks |  Montana State Bobcats | 4:28 | 42 pts | Decisive Factor | L 65–76 |
 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles |  West Georgia Wolves | 4:19 | 39 pts | Decisive Factor | L 59–61 |
 North Dakota Fighting Hawks |  North Dakota State Bison | 4:36 | 39 pts | Decisive Factor | L 62–70 |
 Stonehill Skyhawks |  Wagner Seahawks | 6:13 | 39 pts | Decisive Factor | L 57–68 |
 Gonzaga Bulldogs |  Saint Mary's Gaels | 3:41 | 39 pts | Decisive Factor | L 59–70 |
 Maine Black Bears |  Rutgers Scarlet Knights | 5:38 | 38 pts | Decisive Factor | L 60–72 |
 George Washington Revolutionaries |  Florida Gators | 3:55 | 38 pts | Decisive Factor | L 70–80 |
 Charleston Southern Buccaneers | Lindenwood Lions | 5:44 | 37 pts | Decisive Factor | L 77–83 |
 Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers |  Quinnipiac Bobcats | 6:19 | 37 pts | Decisive Factor | L 62–77 |
 Nevada Wolf Pack |  San Diego State Aztecs | 4:34 | 37 pts | Decisive Factor | L 57–71 |
Severity = opponent points scored during team's droughts ÷ opponent's total score. See Influenced Games for severity thresholds and the full game list.
See all →Drought Impact measures the actual point differential change during scoring droughts. When a team goes scoreless for 3+ minutes, their opponent often scores unanswered points, widening the gap.
This metric shows exactly how many points the opponent scored during each team's drought periods. A drought with 10 points allowed means the score differential worsened by 10 points (team scored 0, opponent scored 10).
This is a direct measurement, not an approximation. It captures the real game impact of going cold — the actual scoring runs that opponents capitalized on.
How Drought Impact Is Measured
A scoring drought starts when a team's possession ends without points and runs until they score again. Three minutes is the cutoff for a tracked drought. During every drought, the other team keeps shooting — and a 3-minute cold stretch where the opponent drops a 9-0 run is meaningfully different from one where the opponent goes 0-for-4. Drought Impact captures the second number: the unanswered points opponents scored during the drought, summed across every drought a team had this season.
The ranking above sorts teams by total opponent points scored during their droughts. The scatter plots impact against drought frequency. The close-games table flags every 2026 game where the drought margin — opponent points during your droughts — was equal to or greater than the final point margin. Those are the games the drought decided.
Two reads to take away. Drought frequency and impact are correlated but not the same thing: a team can have many short droughts that opponents barely punish, or a small number of long droughts that opponents bury them in. Both patterns lose games; the chart shows which one is happening. The close-games table is the actionable view. A team with a low overall impact number can still have lost three single-possession games because a 4-minute scoreless stretch hit at the wrong time.
Related: coaching · conferences · drought killers