NCAA Tournament March Madness

#125 UC Irvine

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

UC Irvine’s résumé is defined by a stout defense that produced its clearest wins, like the neutral-site victory over South Dakota State and the road win at San Jose State, but those highs are offset by a low-output neutral loss to New Mexico State and narrow defeats at Utah Valley and to Northern Iowa that undermine the profile. Many of the other wins come against lesser conference foes, so the team’s standing hangs on a handful of upcoming opportunities: a marquee home matchup with Belmont and road trips to Hawaii and UC Davis are the kinds of tests that would validate the defense and silence concerns about an inconsistent offense. Until those chances are settled, the combination of elite defense, offensive lapses in key games, and limited signature victories explains a cautious posture.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/7Cal Baptist129L69-61
11/15Weber St208W79-70
11/19@Utah Valley83L79-72
11/22Northern Iowa91L70-69
11/25(N)New Mexico St136L57-45
11/26(N)S Dakota St174W64-52
11/30@San Jose St184W72-63
12/4UC Riverside258W73-60
12/6CS Northridge212W85-71
12/19Belmont7945%
12/21(N)N Dakota St14457%
1/1@CS Bakersfield31480%
1/3@CS Fullerton24966%
1/8Long Beach St26386%
1/10@Hawaii10132%
1/11@Hawaii10132%
1/17@UC Davis19157%
1/22@UC Riverside25868%
1/24@UC San Diego9831%
1/29Hawaii10154%
2/5CS Bakersfield31492%
2/7@UC Santa Barbara14746%
2/12@Cal Poly23865%
2/14CS Fullerton24984%
2/19@Long Beach St26369%
2/21UC San Diego9853%
2/26@CS Northridge21261%
2/28UC Santa Barbara14768%
3/5Cal Poly23883%
3/7UC Davis19177%