More than 130 days have passed since the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season tipped. It has been a season of captivating storylines, from the dominance of the freshman class to Miami (Ohio)‘s perfect regular-season run — and it’s about to get even better.
The first round of the 2026 NCAA tournament has finally arrived, and ESPN reporters are on-site to give you a real-time look at the Madness.
Follow along as they and the rest of the staff track all the live action on Thursday, with more games left to tip.
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(14) Penn vs. (3) Illinois: 9:25 p.m. ET
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(9) Saint Louis vs. (8) Georgia: 9:45 p.m. ET
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(14) Kennesaw State vs. (3) Gonzaga: 10 p.m. ET
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(15) Idaho vs. (2) Houston: 10:10 p.m. ET
Jump to: Post-game takeaways
How Michigan State won: North Dakota State took an 8-5 lead early in the first half against Michigan State. That was the last time the Bisons had the edge as the Spartans won their first game in their 28th NCAA tournament appearance under Tom Izzo (third most in Division I since 1995-96, per ESPN Research). Michigan State converted 58.9% of its field goals (the team’s best in an NCAA tournament game since 1986) and made 50% of its 3s, in addition to going 16-of-18 from the line. The Spartans capitalized on the Bison struggling from 3 (6-of-25) with 31 defensive rebounds to their four offensive rebounds. Guard Jeremy Fears Jr. also became the sixth different Michigan State player in the past 60 years to record at least 10 assists in an NCAA tournament game, joining a prestigious list of Magic Johnson, Cassius Winston, Draymond Green, Mateen Cleaves and Denzel Valentine. — Alaina Getzenberg
Michigan State’s second-round opponent: Louisville
How the Spartans can advance to the Sweet 16: Michigan State’s biggest edge against North Dakota State was its dominant frontcourt, with Carson Cooper, Jaxon Kohler, Coen Carr and Cam Ward combining for 62 points and 24 rebounds. That will also be where the Spartans will need to win against Louisville. Despite having plenty of size and depth up front, the Cardinals struggled on the defensive glass against South Florida, and Michigan State is one of the top-10 offensive rebounding teams in the country. The Spartans should be able to have success in that area against the Cardinals. Jeremy Fears Jr. will be the key — he didn’t score the ball well against North Dakota State and turned it over a season-high four times, but he’ll be able to get downhill and put pressure on Louisville. — Jeff Borzello
How Arkansas won: The victory marked the first time the Razorbacks scored 90-plus points in an NCAA tournament game since 1999. (They beat Siena 94-80 in the first round.) They jumped to a 17-point lead in the first nine minutes and never looked back. SEC Player of the Year Darius Acuff Jr. was one of five Arkansas players to score in double figures, finishing with 24 points, seven assists and one steal. Meleek Thomas totaled 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists, making him and Acuff the first freshman teammates with 50 points and five assists each in an NCAA tournament game. Thomas was also effective on defense, recording a block and two steals. Even though the Razorbacks shot 19% from the 3-point line, they dominated in the interior, outscoring Hawai’i 64-40 in the paint. Arkansas generated 23 fast-break points and 26 assists. — Ryan McFadden
Arkansas’ second-round opponent: High Point
How Arkansas can advance to the Sweet 16: Arkansas wants to run, and it wants a high-scoring game. High Point will be willing to play into that hand, and it’s hard to see how that’s not a plus for John Calipari’s team. The Razorbacks don’t give the ball away since they have two high-level playmakers in Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas, and their frontcourt is significantly more mobile and athletic than Wisconsin’s bigs. The turnover battle will be key; High Point ranks in the top five in defensive turnover percentage, but Arkansas protects the ball better than any team in the country. If Acuff and Thomas take care of the ball and the Razorbacks can dominate the paint like they’ve done countless times this season, High Point likely won’t have an answer defensively. Defensively, they can’t let Chase Johnston get hot — from anywhere on the floor. — Jeff Borzello
How Vanderbilt won: There won’t be any more aura this March Madness — at least not from viral McNeese State manager Amir Khan. The 12-seed Cowboys started hot and built an 11-point lead early in the first half, but Vanderbilt held on and rallied to take a three-point lead into halftime with a dominant presence in the post. The Commodores finished the game outscoring McNeese 34-22 in the paint, thanks in large part to a 6-for-6 effort from big man Devin McGlockton. Vanderbilt’s size advantage also provided an edge on the glass, outrebounding the Cowboys 37-34, including 28-18 in defensive boards. Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner led all scorers with 25 points — 17 in the second half — and three 3-pointers. McNeese kept pace with Vanderbilt, recording 16 fast-break points and nine steals, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset. — Brooke Pryor
Vanderbilt’s second-round opponent: Nebraska
How the Commodores can advance to the Sweet 16: Vanderbilt needs Tyler Tanner to excel and to limit Nebraska’s shooters in order to advance. The Commodores were a different team in the second half against McNeese on Thursday when Tanner, a projected first-round NBA draft pick, got more comfortable against the pressure from one of America’s best defensive teams. He scored 17 of his game-high 26 points after halftime. Overall this season, Vanderbilt is 13-3 when the 6-foot guard scores at least 20 points. Nebraska, which had the best defense in Big Ten play this season, will do all it can to frustrate him. It’s not on him alone, though. The Commodores will have to do their best to shut down the Cornhuskers at the 3-point line: They’ve made 34 3-pointers in their last three games. — Myron Medcalf
How Duke won: No. 1 overall seed Duke advances to the round of 32. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but Siena certainly did all it could to make things interesting, taking the Blue Devils to the limit before falling 71-65. The Saints led by 11 at the half and didn’t surrender the lead until the 5:08 mark, but their starters played without a substitution until the final 90 seconds of action. And by late in the second half, it showed. Siena shot just 8-of-34 from the floor over the final 20 minutes, allowing the Blue Devils to claw their way back into the game. Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 13 boards to lead the Blue Devils, while his brother Cayden added 19. — David Hale
Duke’s second-round opponent: TCU
How the Blue Devils can advance to the Sweet 16: Well, it would help if they showed up like the team that dominated in the second half against Siena — and not the version that played in the first half, when they were down by double digits. Duke’s offensive rhythm was clearly disrupted without Caleb Foster, its best 3-point shooter (40.2%), and the Blue Devils’ defense was weaker than expected with Patrick Ngongba II out due to injury, too. In the second half, however, they turned to a zone and played with a different defensive intensity. They’ll advance if they have the same mojo against TCU. Isaiah Evans was a headache for Siena on fast breaks and off-the-dribble after halftime; Duke has to do more to put him in a position to impact the game. And even though it was ugly, Cameron Boozer was 13-for-14 from the free throw line. Good defense, Evans making plays and Boozer being Boozer are the keys to Duke moving on. — Myron Medcalf
How High Point won: Wisconsin jumped out to a 15-5 lead over High Point within five minutes — but the Panthers didn’t let that last long. They put together a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 15-12 and played the Badgers close until entering the half down only two points. Wisconsin built another eight-point lead with 7:08 to play, but High Point outscored the Badgers 18-12 to close out the program’s first NCAA tournament win on a go-ahead layup from Chase Johnston — his first 2-point field goal of the season. Johnson entered the game 0-for-4 from 2-point range, earning most of his buckets from beyond the arc on 64-of-132 shooting from the 3 on the season. Three Panthers players finished with double-doubles: Rob Martin (23 points, 10 assists); Terry Anderson (15 points, 11 rebounds); and Cam’Ron Fletcher (14 points, 11 rebounds). — ESPN Staff
High Point’s second-round opponent: Arkansas
How the Panthers can advance to the Sweet 16: High Point has won 23 of its past 24 games and just beat Wisconsin while playing a run-and-gun up-tempo affair — don’t count the Panthers out against Arkansas. They won’t be afraid of the pace battle, although they’ll have to find a way to slow Darius Acuff Jr. and backcourt partner Meleek Thomas. Both are difficult to keep from getting to their spots, and High Point just allowed Nick Boyd and John Blackwell to combine for 49 points in the win over the Badgers. Where High Point could have some success is at the other end of the floor. Arkansas is solid defensively, but prone to off ball and rotation lapses, and High Point will look to get up and down the floor and take 3s. A repeat 15-for-40 3-point shooting effort would be nice, too. — Jeff Borzello
How Louisville won: Isaac McKneely led the way for the Cardinals, despite a late comeback push by South Florida to turn what had once been a 23-point lead to within single digits in the final five minutes. But the Bulls were utlimately unable to compete with the Cardinals’ 3-pointers, with star guard Wes Enis going 0-for-11 from 3 — the second-most missed 3-point field goal attempts in an NCAA tournament game since the line was introduced in 1987 (Wofford’s Fletcher Magee, 2019, was 0-for-12), per ESPN Research.
McKneely was 7-of-10 from beyond the arc — tied for most 3s made by a Louisville player in an NCAA tournament game (with Taquan Dean in 2005), per ESPN Research. He scored a team-high 23 points, just his second 20-point game this season. Overall, Pat Kelsey’s team finished 13-for-25 (52%) from 3, compared to the Bulls’ 5-for-33 effort (15.2%). — Alaina Getzenberg
Louisville’s second-round opponent: Michigan State
How the Cardinals can advance to the Sweet 16: Despite leading South Florida by 23 points before a late surge by the Bulls made the final margin much closer, Louisville has to clean up plenty in order to beat Michigan State. South Florida grabbed 18 offensive rebounds — 37.5% of its misses — and Louisville will have a harder time against Michigan State, one of the most dominant offensive rebounding teams in the country. The key on the offensive end, as it always is for Louisville, will be making 3s. The Cardinals rank in the top five nationally in 3-point attempt rate and made 13 against South Florida. Michigan State was in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten in 3-point defense and allowed an average of 11.1 3-pointers in its losses this season. The X factor will be the availability of Mikel Brown Jr., though Louisville has figured out how to win without him over the past five games. — Jeff Borzello
How Nebraska won: The Cornhuskers made history with their first NCAA tournament win in program history as they throttled Troy with a dominant performance on both ends of the floor; they entered the game as the only program of any power conference without an NCAA tournament win after going 0-8 in their previous appearances. Junior forward Pryce Sandfort erupted with a program-record seven 3-pointers in an NCAA tournament game, one short of his career high set earlier this season. As a team, Nebraska shot 14-of-39 from beyond the arc while holding Troy to 8-of-28 from 3. The Cornhuskers not only dominated the glass, but turned those rebounds into 19 second-chance points — well over their season average of 9.2. Nebraska also forced Troy to commit 17 turnovers and turned those mistakes into 17 points. — Brooke Pryor
Nebraska’s second-round opponent: Vanderbilt
How the Cornhuskers can advance to the Sweet 16: Nebraska has already made history by winning the first NCAA tournament game in school history. Now it can add to that feat with another victory and its first Sweet 16 appearance. How? Its defense has the ability to force Vanderbilt star Tyler Tanner into difficult shots. He was just 2-for-6 against McNeese in the first half Thursday, struggling against its relentless pressure. Nebraska is bigger and better (top 10 defense nationally) than McNeese, and the Cornhuskers have put the same defensive clamps on elite teams in Big Ten play. Against everyone else, they’ve been ferocious. But they did hold Troy to just 47 points (77 points per 100 possessions) — the best defense we’ve seen in the opening round through the first half of Thursday. Combine that with Pryce Sandfort, Rienk Mast and Sam Hoiberg all hitting big shots in the first round, and Nebraska might be on its way to the Sweet 16 for the first time. — Myron Medcalf
How TCU won: The Horned Frogs led by 15 at the half, looking poised to cruise into the second round; teams with halftime leads of 15 or more points were a perfect 34-0 over the previous three tournaments, according to ESPN Research. But the Buckeyes had no interest in going down without a fight, climbing all the way back to take a 51-50 lead at the 7:24 mark. The two teams traded blows the rest of the way — until a nifty dish from David Punch to Xavier Edmonds with four seconds to play proved the difference in a TCU victory. Punch was the late-game hero for the Horned Frogs, racking up 13 of his 16 points, seven of his 13 rebounds and two assists in the second half to keep his team dancing. — David Hale
TCU’s second-round opponent: Duke
How the Horned Frogs can advance to the Sweet 16: Siena became the first 16-seed to hold a double-digit halftime lead over a 1-seed in NCAA tournament history, per ESPN Research, because of its early dominance in the paint. Francis Folefac, a 6-foot-7 forward, was the anchor of a Saints squad that scored 22 points in the paint in the first half against the Blue Devils. That has to be the blueprint for TCU, too. The Blue Devils were vulnerable inside without Patrick Ngongba II, their best defensive player who may not be available for the second round. That’s how the Horned Frogs can win, attacking inside and defending the rim against Boozer & Co. They will also need 3s to fall again (39% against Ohio State), which only happened on occasion during the season when they were 15th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 in 3-point shooting. — Myron Medcalf
