2024 NCAA Tournament Second Round game times, TV schedule announced for Sunday slate
Friday’s slate of NCAA Tournament games had a tough act to follow after some wild finishes and the first huge upset of 2024. Suffice to say, it delivered.
The second day of March Madness was an entertaining one, with No. 13 seed Yale serving as the highlight. The Bulldogs pulled off the stunner as they defeated No. 4 seed Auburn following a huge comeback in the second half. That was one of five upsets on the day, with three other double digit seeds getting victories, as well. Now, the attention will turn to Sunday’s games since the full schedule is officially in place. (All times Eastern)
2024 NCAA Tournament: East Region
1. UConn vs. 9. Northwestern – March 24, 7:45 p.m., TruTV
5. San Diego State vs. 13. Yale – March 24, 9:40 p.m., TBS
West Region
3. Baylor vs. 6. Clemson – March 24, 6:10 p.m., TNT
4. Alabama vs. 12. Grand Canyon – March 24, 7:10 p.m., TBS
South Region
2. Marquette vs. 10. Colorado – March 24, 12:10 p.m., CBS
4. Duke vs. 12. James Madison – March 24, 5:15 p.m., CBS
9. Texas A&M vs. 1. Houston – March 24, 8:40 p.m., TNT
Midwest Region
1. Purdue vs. 8. Utah State – March 24, 2:40 p.m., CBS
Recapping Friday’s NCAA Tournament games
Friday’s slate of NCAA Tournament games started off with one of the more interesting games of the year.
Northwestern and Florida Atlantic struggled to find rhythms on offense in the first half of the opening game before flipping the script in an exciting second half. It eventually went to overtime thanks to the heroics of Ryan Langborg, and the Wildcats dominated the extra period en route to the 77-65 victory – sending the Owls home early one year after their Final Four run.
Things went as expected elsewhere, although San Diego State survived a scare from UAB. The Aztecs saw their 12-point lead dwindle, and the Blazers took a lead at one point before SDSU hit the gas to get the 69-65 win to advance to the Round of 32.
But the biggest game of the day came in Spokane, where Yale stunned Auburn despite multiple chances for the Tigers in the final minutes. It marks the second straight year a double-digit seed from the Ivy League made the Round of 32, and it also meant two top-five seeds from the SEC are heading home.
At almost the exact same time, Colorado went back-and-forth with Florida in the final minute before KJ Simpson nailed the last-second jumper to send the Buffaloes past the Gators 102-100. Now, CU will get ready for its third game of the week when it takes on Marquette, which came back to defeat Western Kentucky after a halftime deficit.
In the final window of the night, another team pulled off an upset. This time, it was No. 12 seed James Madison, which improved to 32-3 on the season by knocking off No. 5 seed Wisconsin as the Dukes led wire-to-wire to advance to the next round.
Finally, for the second consecutive night, the last game of the day had the makings of an upset. This time, though, it happened.
Grand Canyon led by as much as 17 points against Saint Mary’s in the second half before the Gaels cut it to six with six minutes to play. However, GCU managed to fight SMC off just long enough to get the victory and move on to the Round of 32.