NCAA Tournament March Madness

#180 Mercer

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Mercer looks like a team that will need to secure the Southern Conference's automatic bid because its résumé lacks the kind of eye-catching road or neutral victories a committee rewards. Trips to established power-conference programs such as Tennessee, Clemson, UCF and Washington State ended in defeats and a lopsided loss at Winthrop highlighted how thin the margin for error is on the road. The season’s most convincing wins come against conference opposition like Lipscomb, Appalachian State and home victories over Wofford, while wins away from home have mostly arrived against lesser nonconference opponents and do little to erase the damage of losses at Chattanooga and Samford. With a defense that has been exposed in the tougher matchups and few realistic opportunities remaining to add a marquee neutral-site victory, the simplest and clearest path for Mercer to reach the big dance is to win the conference tournament.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Tennessee13L76-61
11/9Lipscomb197W92-77
11/15@Winthrop144L105-69
11/22@E Kentucky294W95-83
11/26Appalachian St181W75-67
11/29@Elon226W91-84
12/2Georgia St310W78-67
12/13@Clemson38L70-63
12/17@UCF53L81-63
12/20@Washington St138L84-78
12/31@Furman203L74-72
1/3@ETSU143L77-71
1/7Citadel348W101-63
1/10Wofford251W109-97
1/15@VMI360W77-67
1/17@UNC Greensboro302W102-92
1/21W Carolina234W88-76
1/24@Wofford251L80-77
1/29UNC Greensboro302W95-77
1/31VMI360W95-81
2/5@Chattanooga299L79-75
2/7@Samford210L69-49
2/11Furman203W69-64
2/14@Citadel348W70-54
2/19Chattanooga299L94-90
2/21Samford210W89-86
2/25@W Carolina234L78-74
2/28ETSU143W82-76
3/7(N)W Carolina23461%