NCAA March Madness in Philadelphia on 20 & 22
Philadelphia is hosting first- and second-round March Madness games at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday, March 20, and Sunday, March 22. It’s the first men’s NCAA tournament games held in…
Philadelphia is hosting first- and second-round March Madness games at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday, March 20, and Sunday, March 22. It's the first men's NCAA tournament games held in the city since 2013.
Below is the schedule for Friday's men's games, as announced by the NCAA:
- No. 3 Virginia vs. No. 14 Wright State at 1:50 p.m.
- No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 11 Miami University of Ohio/SMU at 4:25 p.m.
- No. 7 University of California, Los Angeles vs. No. 10 University of Central Florida at 7:25 p.m.
- No. 2 University of Connecticut vs. No. 15 Furman at 10 p.m.
Sunday will feature two second-round games, with tipoff times to be determined.
Who To Watch
According to WHYY, two of Philadelphia's Big 5 teams, the Villanova Wildcats and Pennsylvania Quakers, will represent the best of the Philadelphia area's collegiate programs.
Villanova, which won the Big 5 Classic, returns to the tournament for the first time in four years. The No. 8-seeded Wildcats received an at-large bid after wrapping up their regular season 24-8 under head coach Kevin Willard in his first year with the Wildcats.
Villanova will play the ninth-seeded Utah State Aggies at 4:10 p.m. today on TNT at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California. The Wildcats are three-time NCAA champions, with their most recent win in 2018.
Penn entered its first tournament since 2018 as the No. 14 seed after defeating the Yale Bulldogs in overtime during the Ivy League championship. In his first year with Penn, head coach Fran McCaffery led the Quakers to an 18-11 record. The Ivy League champions played the No. 3 Illinois Fighting Illini on Thursday, March 18, but lost 105-70.
The nationally ranked Princeton Tigers and the Villanova Wildcats women's teams are both set to play in the same quadrant of the March Madness bracket.
Following their No. 23 ranking by the Associated Press and winning the Ivy League championship, Princeton will play in its seventh-straight NCAA tournament on Saturday, March 21. Head coach Carla Berube has led the team to March Madness every year since 2022. The Tigers will play No. 8 Oklahoma State Cowgirls at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2 at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
The Villanova Wildcats received a bid to the women's tournament as a No. 10 seed, making their 14th appearance in the program's history. Villanova went 25-7 and finished second in the Big East regular season standings. Villanova will play the No. 7 Texas Tech Lady Raiders at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
