NCAA Tournament March Madness

#297 Evansville

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Evansville’s profile reads like a team whose only clear path to the NCAA field runs through the conference tournament because its signature moments are thin and its worst results are difficult to overcome. The résumé’s brightest spot is a neutral-site upset of Oregon State, and the club has earned resume-friendly victories at Indiana State and at home against Ball State and Illinois State. Those positives are outweighed by lopsided road losses at Purdue and Notre Dame and neutral-site drubbings by Akron and College of Charleston, plus a string of heavy defeats away from home that blunt any at-large argument. Remaining home games against Illinois Chicago and Valparaiso are useful chances to stop the bleeding but won’t dramatically change perception, while road trips to Murray State and Belmont are hostile environments where wins would truly move the needle. Taken together, the season’s pattern of occasional quality results amid frequent bad losses makes the automatic qualifier the only comfortable route to the big dance.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/4@Purdue8L82-51
11/12MTSU181L77-72
11/18UT Arlington167L84-76
11/21(N)Oregon St180W73-69
11/23(N)Akron67L97-59
11/24(N)Col Charleston172L78-59
12/3Ball St322W64-52
12/6@WKU175L80-79
12/13@Notre Dame80L82-58
12/16Belmont61L83-78
12/21Drake202L66-65
12/29@Bradley134L76-68
1/1@Illinois St89L73-47
1/4Northern Iowa88L62-48
1/7Murray St108L79-69
1/10@Indiana St212W72-69
1/13Bradley134L94-90
1/20@IL Chicago122L76-49
1/28@Drake202L82-78
1/31@Northern Iowa88L71-55
2/3Indiana St212L84-63
2/6@Valparaiso154L70-63
2/9Illinois St89W88-80
2/12@S Illinois114L86-60
2/18IL Chicago12225%
2/21@Murray St1088%
2/25@Belmont614%
2/28Valparaiso15431%