NCAA Tournament March Madness

#205 IL Chicago

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Illinois Chicago’s resume has flashes that matter but not enough to erase a body of work marred by bad losses and a lack of road conviction. The resume’s brighter moments — a road victory at Chicago State and a neutral win over Southern Indiana — are offset by road defeats at Oregon State, Yale and Belmont and an alarming home setback to Arkansas Pine Bluff, which selection committees view as damaging. Conference play has offered little redemption, with losses against the likes of Northern Iowa and Murray State highlighting problems away from home and the team’s difficulty closing games in hostile environments. The remaining schedule includes home opportunities against Drake, Belmont and Valparaiso and tough trips to places such as Illinois State and Northern Iowa that could reshape perceptions if Illinois Chicago can take care of business; until those types of meaningful road or neutral wins arrive and the bad losses stop piling up the overall profile will be judged on the uneven midseason stretch rather than the scattered quality results.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Detroit282W91-71
11/7@Oregon St223L76-73
11/15@Chicago St351W67-63
11/20(N)High Point85L90-80
11/22(N)Southern Indiana329W84-73
11/26@Robert Morris196L88-74
12/3Ark Pine Bluff319L63-62
12/7@Yale82L80-66
12/13@Belmont72L87-84
12/17Northern Iowa86L60-54
12/21@Charlotte180L88-76
1/1Murray St90L81-77
1/4@Valparaiso192L66-59
1/7S Illinois11439%
1/10@Illinois St8111%
1/13@Northern Iowa8613%
1/17Drake15751%
1/20Evansville28375%
1/24@Bradley13624%
1/27Indiana St19358%
1/31@S Illinois11420%
2/3@Murray St9013%
2/6Belmont7225%
2/12@Drake15730%
2/15Illinois St8126%
2/18@Evansville28354%
2/21Valparaiso19258%
2/24Bradley13644%
3/1@Indiana St19336%