2024 NCAA Tournament Second Round game times, TV schedule announced for Saturday slate
The road to the Final Four is officially underway. Thursday marked the official start of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, featuring 16 games throughout the day to get March Madness off and running.
In true March form, the day started with multiple upsets – although the biggest one came later. That’s when No. 14 seed Oakland knocked off No. 3 seed Kentucky. Now, the tip-off times and TV schedule are set for Saturday’s Round of 32. (All times Eastern)
2024 NCAA Tournament: East Region
2 Iowa State vs. 7 Washington State – March 23, 6:10 p.m., TNT
3 Illinois vs. 11 Duquesne – March 23, 8:40 p.m., TNT
West Region
2 Arizona vs. 7 Dayton – March 23, 12:45 p.m., CBS
1 North Carolina vs. 9 Michigan State – March 23, 5:30 p.m., CBS
South Region
11 NC State vs. 14 Oakland – March 23, 7:10 p.m., TBS
Midwest Region
5 Gonzaga vs. 4 Kansas – March 23, 3:15 p.m., CBS
2 Tennessee vs. 7 Texas – March 23, 8 p.m., CBS
3 Creighton vs. 11 Oregon – March 23, 9:40 p.m., TBS
Recapping Thursday’s NCAA Tournament games
It didn’t take long for brackets every where to start falling apart as the 2024 NCAA Tournament got underway.
No. 8 seed Mississippi State became the first team to get upset, falling to Michigan State 69-51 in the first game of the day. Another upset followed right away with No. 11 seed Duquesne handing No. 6 BYU a 71-67 loss after fighting off a late Cougars rally – further proving the madness was well underway.
Arizona, North Carolina, Illinois and Creighton all winning their games, as expected. But things picked up later. It was during evening slate that one team would suffer the biggest upset so far.
Oregon got out to a lightning-fast start against South Carolina and never looked back. Thanks to a 40-point outburst from former Gamecock Jermaine Couisnard, the Ducks came away with the 87-73 victory to lock up a spot in the second round. Shortly after that game ended, Dayton – after trailing by 17 points – went on a game-ending 24-4 run to stun Nevada 63-60 and become the second Atlantic 10 team to make the Round of 32.
The real craziness, though, came during the night slate. That’s when No. 14 seed Oakland stunned Kentucky to send the No. 3-seeded Wildcats home for the season. Millions of brackets shattered, further proving March Madness had officially arrived.
The other games after the first session went about as expected. Gonzaga sent Will Wade and McNeese State home with a resounding 86-65 victory while Iowa State flew past South Dakota State 82-65, as well. Tennessee left no room for doubt in an 83-49 victory over Saint Peter’s to ease concerns about history repeating itself with the No. 15 seed Peacocks.
That left three games to close out the first day of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. NC State eventually held on to defeat Texas Tech in the South Region, and Washington State came all the way back to defeat Drake in the East. That left Kansas vs. Samford, and the Jayhawks saw their lead dwindle to just one point with 19.9 to go. However, two huge free throws from Nick Timberlake sealed the 93-89 victory.