Purdue was unranked when we beat them in 1994. They did wind up ranked 12th though at the end of the season.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/scho...edule.html
My recollections were that we have come close a lot, but never actually defeated a Top 20 team. So I channeled my inner BDK and found this website:
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/scho...s-madison/
Brace yourselves....In our entire men's DI basketball history, we have only 1 win against a ranked team- 1992-93 season against 19th ranked Cal. Pretty sure that was a neutral site game.
Close calls:
#3 UVA, lost by 1, 1980-81 season at Godwin Hall
#1 UNC, lost by 2, 1981-82, NCAA Tourney 2nd round
#9 Iowa, lost by 1, 1982-83 season- neutral site
#7 UNC, lost by 1, 1989-90-Maui Invitational
#13 Oklahoma, lost by 3, 1990-91 season- Capital Center
#16 Minnesota, lost by 5, 1993-94 season- road game
# 14 Florida, lost by 2, 1993-94, NCAA Tourney 2nd round
We were solid "back in the day". Beat some name teams and had some Tournament success against good teams. But none of those three teams we beat in the early 80s NCAAs was a Top 20 team when we played them. In 40 years of DI hoops, you'd think we'd have more than one win. We are what we are.