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Looking to advance past the NCAA tournament Round of 64 for the 10th consecutive year, No. 4 seed Gonzaga will take on No. 13 UNC Greensboro, a team that has never been past the Round of 64 in the program’s history.
The game is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast nationally on TNT. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch the game, as well as other NCAA tournament games, live on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
Hulu With Live TV: In addition to their extensive Netflix-like streaming library, Hulu now also offers a bundle of live channels, including TBS, TNT, TruTV and CBS. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
DirecTV Now: TBS, TNT and TruTV are each included in all of DirecTV Now’s four main channel packages. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial no matter what package you choose, plus you can get a free Amazon Fire TV if you prepay one month. Once signed up, you can watch the game live on your computer via the DirecTV Now website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the DirecTV Now app.
Sling TV: TBS, TNT, and TruTV are all included in the “Sling Blue” channel package, while TBS and TNT are also included in the “Sling Orange” package. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of either, and you can then watch the game live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
Note: You can also watch any tournament game on your computer via the March Madness Live website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the March Madness Live app. To watch these streams, you’ll have a free preview before needing to sign in to a TV provider to keep watching, but if you don’t have cable, you can do this by logging in with your Hulu credentials. DirecTV Now and Sling TV aren’t on the list of TV providers, though.
Preview
A lot are quick to call Gonzaga overrated because they play in the WCC, but in the last decade, the Zags have only twice been upset by a lower seed in the NCAA tournament–in 2013 against a Wichita State team that ultimately went to the Final Four, and in 2008 when they ran into Davidson and some baby-faced kid named Stephen Curry.
And this year’s Zags are once again dangerous. They’ve got several key pieces from last year’s team that went to the national title (Josh Perkins, Silas Melson, Johnathan Williams, Killian Tillie), they’ve got veterans in the backcourt (Perkins and Tillie), they can score (10th in the nation effective field-goal percentage), they can defend (19th in effective field-goal percentage defense) and they have a game-changing talent coming off the bench in Rui Hachimura, who likely has a future in the NBA.
All that said, this is a bit of a tricky opener for Mark Few’s squad.
UNC Greensboro ranks in the Top 40 nationally in Ken Pomeroy’s defensive efficiency, effective field-goal percentage, turnover percentage, defensive rebounding percentage, three-point defense, block percentage and steal percentage. And while they can struggle to score at times, they also shoot a ton of threes (15th in the country in percentage of points coming from beyond the arc), so if they get hot from deep, they can certainly spring an upset.
The Zags are favored by 12.5, but this should nonetheless be an interesting matchup. The winner will get either Ohio State or South Dakota State.
