The 2026 NCAA Tournament continues on Sunday with the final eight second-round games on tap. By the conclusion of Sunday night, this year’s Sweet 16 field will be set. On Day 2 of the first round of the tournament, there were no major upsets. The lowest-seeded teams that advanced to this weekend were No. 9 seed Utah State and No. 9 seed Iowa.
The first game of the day will see No. 7 seed Miami face No. 2 seed Purdue (12:10 p.m. ET, CBS, March Madness LIVE) with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. The Hurricanes won their first NCAA Tournament game since the Elite Eight in 2023, after defeating Missouri in the first round. Purdue star Braden Smith set the NCAA career assist record by a men’s Division I player in his team’s blowout win over No. 15 seed Queens.
Perhaps the best game of the tournament so far featured No. 7 seed Kentucky advancing with a dramatic win over No. 10 seed Santa Clara after Otega Oweh hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. The Wildcats will face No. 2 Iowa State (2:45 p.m., CBS, March Madness LIVE) next.
One of the biggest storylines of the weekend will be elite coaching matchups taking place. The headliner will see Bill Self and Kansas facing Rick Pitino and St. John’s (5:15 p.m., CBS, March Madness LIVE) in San Diego.
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Let’s get into some of the big storylines to know for Sunday’s second-round action.
Does Kentucky have an encore in store?
Not many teams in college basketball have had a more confusing season than Kentucky. The Wildcats entered the season with high expectations in Year 2 of the Mark Pope era, mostly because of their high-priced roster that is in the $20 million range. There have been plenty of low lights this season, but Friday served as a possible redemption moment — specifically for Oweh. The preseason SEC Player of the Year struggled during the first two months of the season before flipping a switch in SEC play.
Oweh became just the fourth player in NCAA Tournament history to record at least 35 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in a game, joining Oscar Robertson (1959), Bill Bradley (1965) and Larry Bird (1979) during UK’s win over Santa Clara. The next test will be against a tough Iowa State team. However, the status of star forward Joshua Jefferson will be up in the air heading into the game. The All-American forward left in the opening minutes in Iowa State’s game against Tennessee State and did not return due to an ankle injury. If Jefferson is out, Iowa State will be on upset alert.
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Coaching matchups will define Sunday
Normally, you don’t get elite coaching matchups like this until the Sweet 16, at the very least. However, one of the positives of the lack of first-round upsets is that the best teams and coaches are playing against each other earlier than expected.
Here are the coaching matchups we will see on Sunday.
- Miami (Jai Lucas) vs. Purdue (Matt Painter)
- Kentucky (Mark Pope) vs. Iowa State (T. J. Otzelberger)
- St. John’s (Rick Pitino) vs. Kansas (Bill Self)
- Tennessee (Rick Barnes) vs. Ryan Odom (Virginia)
- Iowa (Ben McCollum) vs. Florida (Todd Golden)
- Utah State (Jerrod Calhoun) vs. Tommy Lloyd (Arizona)
- UCLA (Mick Cronin) vs. Dan Hurley (UConn)
- Texas Tech (Grant McCasland) vs. Alabama (Nate Oats)
You have a little bit of everything with those 16 coaches. Some are Hall of Famers. Some will be in the Hall of Fame. Some are making their mark in Year 1 with their respective programs. Some are looking to make a return to the Final Four. There is something for everybody. That should excite the diehard and casual college basketball fans.
Scoring will be on display in Alabama-Texas Tech
If Texas Tech and Alabama were at full strength, you could make the argument that it would be the best second-round game on the entire slate. It’s still going to be an incredible watch between two of the elite offenses in the sport. Texas Tech is without All-American forward JT Toppin due to a season-ending ACL tear. Alabama guard Aden Holloway won’t be available for the second consecutive game after being arrested on a felony drug charge earlier this week.
Alabama leads the nation (91.7 points) in scoring, while Texas Tech is averaging 80.7 points per night. This game will feature two of the best sophomore guards in Alabama’s Labaron Philon and Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson. Both players are projected as first-round picks in the 2026 NBA Draft. With Holloway out, Philon will have to carry more of the scoring load for the best offense in the country. (9:45 p.m., TBS, March Madness Live)
Sunday’s NCAA Tournament streaming schedule
Games played at Benchmark International Arena (Tampa), Xfinity Mobile Arena (Philadelphia), Viejas Arena (San Diego) and Enterprise Center (St. Louis)
| Time (ET) | Game | TV / Stream |
|---|---|---|
| 12:10 p.m. | (7) Miami (FL) vs. (2) Purdue | CBS (watch live) |
| 2:45 p.m. | (7) Kentucky vs. (2) Iowa State | CBS (watch live) |
| 5:15 p.m. | (5) St. John’s vs. (4) Kansas | CBS (watch live) |
| 6:10 p.m. | (6) Tennessee vs. (3) Virginia | TNT (watch live) |
| 7:10 p.m. | (9) Iowa vs. (1) Florida | TBS (watch live) |
| 7:50 p.m. | (9) Utah State vs. (1) Arizona | truTV (watch live) |
| 8:45 p.m. | (7) UCLA vs. (2) UConn | TNT (watch live) |
| 9:45 p.m. | (5) Texas Tech vs. (4) Alabama | TBS (watch live) |