SAN ANTONIO — The downtown celebration has begun, the bands have departed from the River Rally and excitement continues to build to the NCAA men’s tournament semifinal games Saturday night.
For just the second time ever, and first since 2008, the tourney’s four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four, setting the stage for an epic evening of on-court action.
Wondering when those games begin? We’ve got you covered.
Game 1
Tipoff between the Auburn Tigers and Florida Gators is at 5:09 p.m. CT at the Alamodome. The SEC battle will be shown on KENS 5 and streamed on Paramount+ as the teams vie for a spot in Monday’s championship game.
The matchup pits All-Americans Johni Broome and Walter Clayton Jr. against each other yet again.
“The success that the league has had in the tournament has been pretty amazing,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “The league obviously (got) a lot of respect, a lot of notoriety after the non-conference. Once you get to elite play, people wonder how real it is. I believe the results we have had so far in the NCAA Tournament speak to that.”
Florida (34-4), which has won 10 in a row since the start of March, twice during the regular season beat No. 1-ranked SEC teams. The Gators first won by 30 points at Tennessee, then a month later had a 90-81 win at Auburn on Feb. 8 that solidified how they felt about their team.
After the tournament’s first Final Four matchup of SEC teams, the winner will play Duke or Houston with the opportunity to clinch their league’s first national title in men’s basketball since Kentucky in 2012. The last before that were Florida’s back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007.
Tickets are still available at the game through resale, but they’ll cost you: The cheapest cost $200 before fees on Ticketmaster, and if you’re trying to get as close to possible to the court, be prepared to shell out nearly $5,400 for a seat.
Game 2
Unless Game 1 goes long, the second game of the night between the Duke Blue Devils and Houston Cougars is scheduled to begin at 7:49 p.m. CT and will also be available to watch on KENS 5 and Paramount+. The cheapest tickets still available are going for $90 a pop before fees, way up in Section 345 at the Alamodome.
Pretty much every basketball fan has heard of Duke’s Cooper Flagg. Nowhere near as many have heard of Houston’s Joseph Tugler.
If the Cougars are going to spring an upset over the Blue Devils in the all-1-seed Final Four on Saturday, it will almost surely be because one of the country’s best defenders, Tugler, played a big role in holding down the country’s best overall player, Flagg.
Flagg, the 18-year-old freshman who is averaging 18.9 points and 7.5 rebounds, picked up the AP player of the year award on Friday, along with the Oscar Robinson Award to add to his quickly filling trophy case.
He is virtually certain to be the top pick in the NBA draft later this spring.
Last weekend, Flagg played arguably the best game of his short college career — a 30-point, six-rebound, seven-assist masterpiece in a Sweet 16 win over Arizona. Two nights later, he was off target but still ended up with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists in a 20-point win over Alabama.
Tugler’s honors: Big 12 defensive player of the year and winner of the Lefty Driesell Award given by College Insider Inc. to the nation’s best defensive player. Since joining the starting lineup in December, he’s averaged 1.9 blocks a game.
Some other Houston stats say a lot. The Cougars are rated first in the KenPom defensive efficiency category. On offense, they are ranked 360th out of 364 teams in possessions per 40 minutes, a figure that plays into the defense because the long possessions shorten games and cause teams to expend energy defending them.
The Cougars lead the nation in field goal percentage allowed (38.2%) and points allowed (58.3).
Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who has seen Houston in a scrimmage two years ago and in a 54-51 Sweet 16 win last season — before Flagg arrived — says the numbers don’t fully do it justice.
“They have good individual defenders,” Scheyer said. “But I think, by far, the best thing they do is how they have five guys always moving together.”
I’m not heading to the games. Where can I watch them?
You’re in luck! All the games will be broadcast on KENS 5, and there are a couple spots to watch with other college basketball fans in town.
- Final Four Fan Fest (Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center)
- Tip-Off Tailgate (Civic Park)
- Alamo Ranch Food Truck Park (5615 Lone Star Parkway)
- Alamo Beer Company (202 Lamar St.)
For everything else Final Four in San Antonio, click here.