NCAA Tournament March Madness

#317 N Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Northern Illinois' résumé is anchored by eye-opening wins at Loyola-Chicago and a tense victory over Central Michigan and by an easy home triumph over ULM that show the staff can coach the team to offensive bursts, but those moments are outweighed by a string of road failures and an embarrassing home loss to Lindenwood that exposed a brittle defense on the travel schedule. Heavy defeats in true road environments at Wisconsin and Grand Canyon and additional losses at midmajor venues removed the chance to lean on marquee nonconference results, so the committee will fixate on the lack of signature wins and on how often the team has been unable to protect the glass away from its building. The remainder of the slate includes a long stretch of conference chances, including tough tests at Kent, Buffalo, Toledo and Akron and a cluster of winnable games back at home against Buffalo, Toledo, Ball State and Western Michigan, and those outcomes will determine whether the résumé moves upward by adding meaningful road victories or instead confirms a profile defined by brittle defense and too many costly lapses.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3ULM358W102-82
11/7@Wisconsin43L97-72
11/10@Grand Canyon93L88-59
11/18@Northern Iowa91L70-57
11/21@Loyola-Chicago298W76-59
11/25@Austin Peay191L77-59
12/2Lindenwood232L99-64
12/6@Bradley117L84-55
12/13@Elon155L85-79
12/20C Michigan326W74-73
12/30Buffalo18333%
1/3@Kent1319%
1/6Toledo16028%
1/13@E Michigan20819%
1/17Massachusetts17430%
1/20@Ohio20118%
1/24@Ball St31639%
1/27W Michigan27950%
1/31@Miami OH1137%
2/11Bowling Green10716%
2/14@C Michigan32642%
2/17@Buffalo18315%
2/21Ohio20136%
2/24@Toledo16012%
2/28Ball St31661%
3/3Kent13122%
3/6@Akron552%