NCAA Tournament March Madness

#354 W Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Western Illinois' résumé is shaped by a punishing nonconference trip that featured at Iowa, at Drake, at Radford and at CS Bakersfield and those road defeats, capped by the lopsided loss at Drake, have left little in the way of quality wins. The most encouraging signs came in the tighter outings at Cal Baptist and the home game with North Dakota, which showed the team can compete but did not produce a statement victory to flip the narrative. Consistent struggles away from home and a lack of wins against notable opponents have done the most damage to their profile. The league calendar still hands them chances to alter that picture with home dates such as Eastern Illinois and a sequence of OVC matchups that include Lindenwood, SIUE and Tennessee Tech as well as road tests at North Dakota and Morehead State, and converting any of those into road or neutral-site victories would materially change how the resume reads.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Radford247L80-75
11/7@Iowa26L77-58
11/11@CS Bakersfield302L74-58
11/14@Cal Baptist129L69-59
11/21Coastal Car222L84-64
11/23North Dakota332L78-69
12/2@Drake127L108-57
12/13@North Dakota33228%
12/18@Lindenwood24914%
12/22SIUE22425%
1/1@TN Martin21411%
1/3@SE Missouri St22711%
1/8Tennessee St25330%
1/10Tennessee Tech26031%
1/13@E Illinois33328%
1/17@Ark Little Rock31623%
1/22@Morehead St32325%
1/24@Southern Indiana32124%
1/29SE Missouri St22726%
1/31TN Martin21424%
2/5@Tennessee Tech26015%
2/7@Tennessee St25314%
2/10E Illinois33349%
2/12Ark Little Rock31643%
2/19Southern Indiana32144%
2/21Morehead St32345%
2/26@SIUE22411%
2/28Lindenwood24930%