NCAA Tournament March Madness

#91 Murray St

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Projection: likely out

Murray State’s standing is understandable because the resume mixes a couple of eye-catching neutral-site wins that showcase its offense with damaging losses that expose inconsistency and a lack of resume-building road success. Neutral victories over Akron and George Washington show the Racers can score with quality foes, but a loss at SMU, a road setback at Drake and an unexpected neutral defeat to McNeese State undermine those bright spots and leave little margin for error. Conference play has included comfortable home outcomes but no signature wins away from campus, and the team’s tendency to play in high-scoring, close affairs has allowed inferior opponents to stay within striking distance. With upcoming road tests at Northern Iowa and Belmont and home opportunities against Illinois State plus a favorable trip to Evansville there is still time to change the perception, yet as things stand the combination of troubling losses, limited road résumé and defensive lapses explains why the bracket picture is bleak.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3(N)NE Omaha269W85-77
11/7MS Valley St365W108-60
11/11@SMU31L102-91
11/15Nicholls St228W99-79
11/18Ark Little Rock292W89-68
11/23(N)MTSU132L90-87
11/24(N)McNeese St66L73-60
11/25(N)G Washington74W96-95
12/2Morehead St298W84-52
12/6Bellarmine293W81-68
12/13(N)Akron60W115-100
12/18Drake164W81-72
12/21@Valparaiso158W85-79
12/29S Illinois138W84-81
1/1@IL Chicago150W81-77
1/4Bradley137W86-66
1/7@Evansville289W79-69
1/10Valparaiso158W92-79
1/17Indiana St194W85-81
1/21@Drake164L101-90
1/24@Northern Iowa10846%
1/28Illinois St8660%
1/31@Belmont6331%
2/3IL Chicago15078%
2/6@S Illinois13854%
2/9Northern Iowa10868%
2/12@Indiana St19467%
2/15Belmont6353%
2/18@Illinois St8638%
2/21Evansville28993%
3/1@Bradley13754%