Updated March 18, 2026, 7:43 p.m. ET
Follow Wednesday night’s First Four action with USA TODAY Sports’ live updates.
Day 1 of March Madness featured two close games in the First Four at Dayton. Howard held on to beat UMBC in the 16-seed matchup, while Texas edged NC State in the 11-seed nightcap.
What will Day 2 have in store?
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All times Eastern
The First Four begins on Tuesday, March 17 with the UMBC-Howard and Texas-NC State games.
It concludes on Wednesday, March 17 with two other matchups: No. 16 seed Prairie View A&M against No. 16 seed Lehigh and No. 11 seed Miami (Ohio) against No. 11 seed SMU.
Aside from 2021, when the NCAA tournament was held entirely in the state of Indiana during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the First Four has been held at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, the home arena for the Dayton Flyers.
Watch all First Four games with SlingThe eight teams taking part in the First Four this year are:
All four games of the First Four will air nationally on truTV. Streaming options for the game include Sling TV, which carries the Turner Sports family of networks.
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Since being introduced in 2011, when the tournament expanded from 65 teams to 68, the First Four features the four lowest-ranked No. 16 seeds and the final four at-large inclusions (usually No. 11 seeds) playing each other across four games to see who gets to advance to the 64-team portion of the NCAA tournament.
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