What Belmont’s Win vs Murray State Means For NCAA Tournament
Belmont’s victory over Murray State has serious ramifications for the NCAA Tournament.
Heading into Saturday evening’s outing, the stakes were high. The winner would ultimately emerge as the Ohio Valley Conference champ and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
With the game generally even for most of the evening, the end result came down to the wire. Ultimately, Belmont was able to take a 76-75 lead on a crisp backdoor play from Adam Kunkel to Tyler Scanlon
With the game on the line, Jaiveon Eaves missed a well-defended three that would have earned the win for his side.
Belmont game-winning backdoor set to punch their ticket to the tourney: pic.twitter.com/BRMizLxGFW
— Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) March 8, 2020
So what does this mean for both programs? It means that Belmont punches its ticket to the Big Dance for the second consecutive season.
Last year, the Bruins earned a No. 11 spot following a victory over Temple. In the following round, they almost beat Maryland in what would have been a tremendous upset, but ultimately lost 79-77.
This mark the ninth time that Belmont makes the NCAA Tournament.
In their most recent bracketology projections, ESPN had Belmont ranked at the 14-seed and facing off against Duke in the opening round.
Related: What Utah State’s Win Over San Diego State Means For NCAA Tournament
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
