NCAA Tournament March Madness

#138 S Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

S Illinois’s profile reads like a resume with a few high notes and too many bruising outings, so needing the automatic route makes sense. The road win at Belmont and a neutral victory over Delaware show the roster can beat quality opponents away from home, and a gritty win at High Point underscores toughness in hostile gyms. Those positives are counterbalanced by an ugly trip to Memphis, a loss at Illinois Chicago and a hairline home loss to Belmont that underline how damaging bad results have been. The remainder of the schedule hands several clear chances to repair the resume with home dates against Northern Iowa and Murray State, winnable stops against Evansville and a pivotal road test at Illinois State along with the road games at Drake and Northern Iowa that could swing perceptions, but without another signature road or neutral victory the path to the NCAA field looks to go through the conference’s automatic berth.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/7Missouri KC346W101-78
11/12@Nevada65L86-81
11/17@N Dakota St140L92-85
11/23(N)Delaware297W79-59
11/24(N)UAB119L81-73
11/26@Memphis97L74-58
11/29Ark Little Rock292W74-65
12/3@High Point96W86-84
12/10TN Martin205W83-54
12/13@Richmond116L93-84
12/18Illinois St86L75-68
12/21@Bradley137L73-69
12/29@Murray St91L84-81
1/1Valparaiso158W75-70
1/4@Belmont63W68-67
1/7@IL Chicago150L70-57
1/14Drake164L76-73
1/17Belmont63L73-68
1/21@Valparaiso158L69-63
1/25@Evansville28971%
1/28Northern Iowa10853%
1/31IL Chicago15064%
2/3@Illinois St8624%
2/6Murray St9146%
2/9@Indiana St19452%
2/12Evansville28987%
2/15Bradley13761%
2/18@Drake16446%
2/21@Northern Iowa10831%
2/25Indiana St19473%