March Madness tips off today in Providence. What to know about the four basketball games
PROVIDENCE – If ticket prices on the secondary market are any indication, the fans who make their way to Amica Mutual Pavilion this week are in for a treat.
The four games on Thursday that begin the NCAA Tournament are the most expensive men’s college basketball attraction in the country. It’s easy to see why.
Star coaches and massive brands are the common thread among the eight teams that will compete downtown in the Midwest and West Regions, respectively. Doubleheaders in the afternoon and at night will leave four survivors for Saturday at times to be determined. The dream will end for six of the teams and carry on to the Sweet 16 with two fortunate others.
Here’s a quick look at the matchups on the opening day:
Midwest Region
4 Purdue (22-11) vs. 13 High Point (29-5), 12:40 p.m. truTV
The Boilermakers were the national runners-up to Connecticut last year, while the Panthers are making their first March Madness appearance since a transition from Division II in the late 1990s.
Purdue and High Point both feature national top-25 offenses in terms of efficiency, but the Boilermakers have a significant edge at the other end of the floor. They’re 63rd in defensive efficiency while the Panthers sit 227th – that’s below 20-loss teams such as Fresno State, Lafayette, Southern Miss and Richmond.
Look for Braden Smith – No. 1 nationally in assist rate – and backcourt mates Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer to drive Purdue here. High Point counters with Kezza Giffa and D’Maurian Williams, a rim seeker and long-range marksman, respectively.
5 Clemson (27-6) vs. 12 McNeese (27-6), 3:15 p.m., truTV
Will Wade is 57-10 in two seasons with the Cowboys, bouncing back from his firing at LSU after the school received a notice of allegations from the NCAA in March 2022. The handful of major violations included discussion of paying players captured on federal wiretaps. The irony now, of course: Athletes are currently receiving compensation through school collectives and will add revenue sharing to their possible financial avenues in 2025-26.
That kind of serial winning – along with strong previous seasons at Chattanooga, VCU and the bayou version of the Tigers – should make McNeese a popular upset pick this week. This different collection of Tigers from the ACC is fresh off an Elite Eight appearance and features top-25 units on both offense and defense. Clemson rolled to a 18-2 mark in league play, trailing Duke by one game and tying with Louisville for the runner-up spot.
West Region
7 Kansas (21-12) vs. 10 Arkansas (20-13), 7:10 p.m., CBS
The last two coaches to knock Providence out of the NCAA Tournament – Bill Self in the Sweet 16 with the Jayhawks in 2022 and John Calipari in the first round with Kentucky in 2023 – meet in the place the Friars have called home for more than five decades.
Kansas is just 21-17 in Big 12 play over the last two seasons and hasn’t reached the Sweet 16 since its national championship three years ago. Hunter Dickinson can dominate inside, but is the supporting cast enough? The oldest team in the country in terms of age per minutes played – 3.64 years – has one last chance to meet expectations.
Calipari hasn’t coached past the opening weekend since 2019, including a shocker against Oakland in last year’s first round and a defeat against tiny Saint Peter’s to start the event in 2022. That led to a divorce from the Wildcats after 15 seasons and a fresh start with the Razorbacks, a SEC rival. Arkansas dropped its first five league games and was just 11-7 overall before finding some rhythm over the last two months.
2 St. John’s (30-4) vs. 15 Omaha (22-12), 9:45 p.m., CBS
Rick Pitino makes a triumphant return to the place where he first made national coaching headlines. Providence reached its second Final Four in 1987, with Pitino revolutionizing the game through his use of pressure defense and the 3-point shot. The Red Storm carry some of the same relentless character traits that fueled the Friars – the top national defense in terms of efficiency and a top-10 team on the offensive glass.
The Mavericks make it two first-timers downtown this week, joining High Point in scoring a March Madness debut. They started just 4-9 against a rugged nonconference schedule before ripping off a nine-game winning streak and running from there. JJ White and Marquel Sutton make for a strong 1-2 punch on the perimeter and in the paint, respectively.
On X: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: March Madness in Providence. What to know about four basketball games
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