NCAA Tournament March Madness

#76 Northern Iowa

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Projection: likely out

Northern Iowa’s résumé looks like a tough defensive team with some eye-opening road and neutral victories but not enough marquee wins to erase the damage from bad losses. The Panthers flashed their best self with a road win at UC Irvine, a road victory at Murray State and a neutral-site triumph over Loyola–Chicago, which demonstrate they can win away from Cedar Falls and close tight games. Those highs are counterbalanced by the loss at St. Mary’s, the repeated setbacks at Belmont and the road defeats at Valparaiso and Illinois State that expose offensive inconsistency and raise questions about their ability to beat high-level opponents away from home. With little room for more nonconference glory, their best chance to flip the projection is a deep run in the league tournament or a marquee neutral-site win that offsets the blemishes and proves the defense can carry them against stronger competition.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/6CS Northridge167W86-57
11/9S Dakota St216W65-58
11/14Furman203W70-54
11/18N Illinois333W70-57
11/22@UC Irvine110W70-69
11/25(N)Loyola-Chicago301W72-51
11/26(N)Tulsa55L63-60
12/6Wichita St89L74-69
12/13Oakland164W75-63
12/17@IL Chicago108W60-54
12/22@St Mary's CA22L63-58
12/29Valparaiso157W58-48
1/1Indiana St201W75-66
1/4@Evansville305W62-48
1/7Belmont65L78-65
1/10@Bradley122L75-69
1/13IL Chicago108L69-61
1/17@Valparaiso157L54-44
1/21@Illinois St104L59-54
1/24Murray St121W81-76
1/28@S Illinois116L65-50
1/31Evansville305W71-55
2/6Bradley122W61-49
2/9@Murray St121W89-60
2/12@Belmont65L91-86
2/15Drake185W86-62
2/18@Indiana St201W81-60
2/21S Illinois116L59-57
2/25Illinois St104L71-69
3/1@Drake185W75-53
3/5(N)Evansville305W68-59
3/6(N)Illinois St104W74-52