NCAA Tournament March Madness

#129 UC Santa Barbara

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

UC Santa Barbara's résumé is defined by bright moments and damaging setbacks, which is why the clearest path to the NCAA tournament runs through the Big West. The Gauchos have shown legitimate offensive firepower in wins over Cal State Bakersfield and on the road at Long Beach State and UC San Diego and they also picked up neutral-site nonconference victories against Lehigh and Seattle. Those high points are tempered by ugly results away at Nevada and in a neutral outing at Utah Valley plus home and road losses to UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton that expose defensive inconsistency. Without a marquee signature win to erase those blemishes and with the rest of the conference slate featuring matchups against Cal State Northridge, Hawaii, UC Riverside, UC Irvine and UC San Diego, their best and most secure route onto the bracket is to win the conference and claim the automatic spot.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/8San Jose St256W85-74
11/11@CS Sacramento250W92-87
11/17Loy Marymount152L78-74
11/22@Nevada57L77-64
11/28(N)Lehigh300W72-70
11/29(N)Seattle131W74-71
12/4Long Beach St240W84-77
12/6CS Bakersfield316W109-84
12/13(N)Utah Valley87L68-53
12/17@WI Green Bay218L67-64
12/22Portland200W79-61
1/1@CS Fullerton171L95-84
1/3@CS Northridge178L74-65
1/8UC Davis156L93-86
1/15@CS Bakersfield316W75-69
1/17Hawaii91W77-62
1/22Cal Poly225W107-67
1/24@Long Beach St240W74-71
1/29@UC San Diego113W62-48
1/31CS Fullerton171W83-69
2/5@UC Davis156L85-75
2/7UC Irvine118W84-79
2/12@UC Riverside277W76-68
2/14@Cal Poly225L89-79
2/19CS Northridge17872%
2/22@Hawaii9128%
2/26UC Riverside27786%
2/28@UC Irvine11837%
3/7UC San Diego11358%