NCAA Tournament March Madness

#353 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@Radford252L80-75
11/7@Iowa22L77-58
11/11@CS Bakersfield309L74-58
11/14@Cal Baptist131L69-59
11/21Coastal Car218L84-64
11/23North Dakota332L78-69
12/2@Drake126L108-57
12/13@North Dakota33228%
12/18@Lindenwood24913%
12/22SIUE22426%
1/1@TN Martin23612%
1/3@SE Missouri St22812%
1/8Tennessee St25430%
1/10Tennessee Tech26231%
1/13@E Illinois33730%
1/17@Ark Little Rock32325%
1/22@Morehead St32425%
1/24@Southern Indiana31723%
1/29SE Missouri St22826%
1/31TN Martin23627%
2/5@Tennessee Tech26215%
2/7@Tennessee St25414%
2/10E Illinois33751%
2/12Ark Little Rock32345%
2/19Southern Indiana31744%
2/21Morehead St32445%
2/26@SIUE22411%
2/28Lindenwood24929%