NCAA Tournament March Madness

#276 UTEP

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

UTEP’s profile makes it clear why an automatic berth is the most realistic path because the résumé peppers in a handful of encouraging results that are outweighed by several damaging road and neutral losses. The Miners flashed their upside when they outscored New Mexico State at home and snagged gritty wins at Delaware and at Jacksonville State while handling Florida International, but those moments sit alongside bad defeats away at Utah State and at WKU and neutral-site setbacks to William & Mary and UAB and a puzzling home loss to Norfolk State that will stick out to the committee. Without a signature road victory over a quality opponent and with multiple high-visibility losses, there’s not much cushion for an at-large case. That reality puts enormous value on the remaining chances against familiar conference foes such as Louisiana Tech, Liberty, Middle Tennessee and WKU and makes winning the league’s automatic berth the clearest way back to the field.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/11Loy Marymount161L71-58
11/15@Utah St30L75-51
11/24(N)William & Mary149L74-63
11/25(N)UAB127L75-59
12/7@Seattle119L75-68
12/13@Hawaii107L66-61
12/21Norfolk St327L72-71
12/22N Dakota St113W76-66
12/29@Louisiana Tech203L75-63
1/2@Missouri St206L79-55
1/4@Florida Intl194L76-64
1/8MTSU178W83-80
1/10WKU170L68-56
1/15@Delaware293W70-69
1/17@Liberty125L80-69
1/22Florida Intl194W83-77
1/24Missouri St206L62-57
1/28Louisiana Tech203L69-59
1/31Delaware293W70-55
2/4@Sam Houston St111L70-66
2/7New Mexico St184W91-88
2/11@Jacksonville St209W69-64
2/14Liberty125L73-64
2/21@New Mexico St184L67-63
2/26@MTSU178L77-67
2/28@WKU170L97-65
3/5Kennesaw163W78-71
3/7Jacksonville St209L64-61