NCAA Tournament March Madness

#273 UC Riverside

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

UC Riverside’s season profile makes the projection obvious because the résumé lacks a marquee nonconference victory while it is dotted with damaging results on the road, including heavy losses at BYU and UCLA and a home blowout to Hawaii that a committee would view as red flags. The win at San Diego and victories over Grambling, Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton show the team can beat peer opponents but those wins don’t erase narrow defeats at Cal State Bakersfield and UC San Diego or a string of losses away from home that expose inconsistency. The remaining stretch offers several clear chances to repair the resume, from a home date with UC Irvine and tests against Long Beach State and Cal Poly to road trips to UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton and UC San Diego and a pair of trips to Hawaii, yet without a signature scalp in nonconference play the cleanest route to the NCAA tournament is to win the Big West tournament.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/6@North Dakota308W74-70
11/11@New Mexico44L82-68
11/15North Dakota308L76-74
11/18@Cal Baptist136L80-57
11/21@San Diego201W85-71
11/24Grambling278W83-74
11/29@Utah Tech216L77-69
12/4@UC Irvine125L73-60
12/6@Cal Poly245W88-84
12/13@BYU14L100-53
12/20@St Thomas MN130L92-78
12/23@UCLA39L97-65
1/1Hawaii100L88-45
1/8@CS Bakersfield306L67-66
1/10UC San Diego104L69-66
1/15@Long Beach St229L88-73
1/17CS Fullerton202W81-72
1/22UC Irvine12529%
1/24@UC Davis16520%
1/29Long Beach St22951%
1/31Cal Poly24554%
2/5@CS Fullerton20226%
2/7@CS Northridge20426%
2/12UC Santa Barbara15637%
2/14@UC San Diego10410%
2/19CS Bakersfield30668%
2/21UC Davis16538%
2/26@UC Santa Barbara15618%
2/28CS Northridge20447%
3/5@Hawaii1009%
3/6@Hawaii1009%