Sunday’s Matchups to Watch in the NCAA Tournament
Sunday will be a great day for half of the participating teams as the winners of these NCAA tournament games secure their place in the round of 16. Follow the table and live scores and see our picks for the games we don’t play. Don’t miss (teams organized by seed; all times Eastern):
men’s tournament
No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh
12:10 p.m. CBS
Xavier appeared to sleep for most of his first-round game against No. 14 Kennesaw State. The Musketeers were just under 10 minutes to play at 13 before finally waking up; They scored the next 15 points and held on to a 72-67 win. Pitt narrowly escaped its play-in game against Mississippi State to reach the field of 64, but it had no such troubles against No. 6 Iowa State. The Panthers opened the game on a 22-4 run and held the Cyclones to just 23.3 percent in a 59-41 win. They will seek to follow in the footsteps of two other 11th teams that started in the First Four and made it to the Final Four: VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021.
No. 3 Kansas State vs. No. 6 Kentucky
2:40 p.m. CBS
Things weren’t quite as easy for Kansas State on Friday as the team might have liked, with No. 14 Montana State hanging around until the final minutes. But ultimately, the combination of forward Keyontae Johnson (18 points, 8 rebounds) and Markquis Nowell (17 points, 14 assists) was too much to overcome. It also took some time for Kentucky to gain control in their duel with No. 11 Providence, but the squad had something the brothers didn’t: Oscar Tshiebwe. The senior forward grabbed 25 rebounds in Kentucky’s 61-53 win and set up that all-wildcat second-round meeting.
No. 2 Marquette vs. No. 7 Michigan State
5:15 p.m. CBS
Marquette used a balanced offensive attack in his first-round game to finish off No. 15 (78-61) five-man Vermont by double figures. The win was the first in the NCAA tournament for the Golden Eagles since 2013 when they reached the round of 16. Michigan State’s win over No. 10 Southern California on Friday was its 15th in the same span that the Spartans drove to two Final Fours (although he didn’t win a game in either). Michigan State lost an early lead against the Trojans but rallied for a 72-62 win.
No. 9 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson
7:45 p.m. TruTV
After Fairleigh Dickinson’s startling uproar against Purdue, a No. 1 seed, we soaked up information about the Teaneck, NJ school. The Knights won just four games last season and didn’t win their conference tournament this year; they had to win a first-four game before they even had a chance to face Purdue; They’re the smallest team in Division I. But regardless, FDU has their second win by a No. 16 ahead of a No. 1 in men’s tournament history, and now they have a chance to go further than any 16-seeded ever has. Standing in his way is Florida Atlantic, who survived a back-and-forth game against Memphis by hitting the go-ahead basket with 2.5 seconds remaining.
Tournament of women
No. 3 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Mississippi State
3:30 p.m. ESPN
Mississippi State built on its win in the First Four with an 81-66 loss to No. 6 Creighton. The Bulldogs faced a favorite from last year’s tournament, but they took control early and became the lowest-seeded winner on Friday. Notre Dame also got off to a hot start, scoring the first 16 points in their 82-56 win over Southern Utah. The Fighting Irish will be without their star-point guard Olivia Miles for the remainder of the tournament because of a knee injury, but they made many contributions in their first-round game: Lauren Ebo had 14 points, a double-double and 10 rebounds and Maddy Westbeld scored 20 points.
No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 7 Arizona
5:30 p.m. ESPN
Maryland made easy first-round work with the No. 15-seeded Holy Cross, jumping out to a 23-4 start en route to the 93-61 win. The Terrapins had double-digit goals from five players, led by 18 players from guard Brinae Alexander. Arizona coach Adia Barnes returned her team to the Round of 32 for the third consecutive season after beating West Virginia 75-62 on Friday. Cate Reese scored 25 points and Esmery Martinez had 13 points and 12 rebounds in the game against her former team. The Wildcats lost in the second round last year but made it to the Final Four the year before.
No. 2 Utah vs. No. 10 Princeton
7 p.m., ESPN2
Princeton needed nearly every second of Friday’s game to spark the excitement. The Tigers got a 3-pointer from Grace Stone with 4.7 seconds left to complete their comeback win over seventh-seeded North Carolina State, which went without a point for the final 5:43 of the game. Princeton have made it to the Round of 32 for the second year in a row. It meets Utah, who hit the century mark in a 103-77 win over Gardner-Webb on Friday. The Utes were led by forward Alissa Pili with 33 points, a career high for the Southern California transfer.
No. 3 LSU vs. No. 6 Michigan
7:30 p.m. ESPN
It took LSU a while to gel offensively in their 73-50 win over 14th seed Hawaii on Friday, but even cold shooting couldn’t slow the Tigers down. Forward Angel Reese scored 34 points and added 15 rebounds for her 29th double-double of the season. Michigan was hot off goal in their first-round game against UNLV, leading 17-9 after the first quarter. Forward Emily Kiser and guard Maddie Nolan each had 18 points for the Wolverines, while guard Leigha Brown had 17 points.