March Madness TV schedule for Friday, March 21; men’s basketball streaming guide

UPDATE: Now that the Friday matchups have all gone final, take a look at the latest Round 1 final scores and complete schedule for Round 2 of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The second day of competition kicks off as the 2025 NCAA Tournament resumes with 16 first round games left to be played today starting at 9:15 a.m. PT on Friday, March 21 with games airing on truTV, TNT, TBS and CBS.

• Stream March Madness live for free with DirecTV Stream (free trial), or with Sling (first month costs less than $25) or see more streaming options listed below.

Here’s a look at the complete schedule of first round games and what channel each matchup is on for today. That’s followed by a streaming guide that outlines several ways you can watch March Madness games for free.

South region

• No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 11 North Carolina (Milwaukee, Friday, 1:05 p.m. PT, TNT)
• No. 3 Iowa State vs. No. 14 Lipscomb (Milwaukee, Friday, 10:30 a.m. PT, TNT)
• No. 7 Marquette vs. No. 10 New Mexico (Cleveland, Friday, 4:25 p.m. PT, TBS)
• No. 2 Michigan State vs. No. 15 Bryant (Cleveland, Friday, 7 p.m. PT, TBS)

East region

• No. 1 Duke vs. American/No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s (Raleigh, Friday, 11:50 a.m. PT, CBS)
• No. 8 Mississippi State vs. No. 9 Baylor (Raleigh, Friday, 9:15 a.m. PT, CBS)
• No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 12 Liberty (Seattle, Friday, 7:10 p.m. PT, TruTV)
• No. 4 Arizona vs. No. 13 Akron (Seattle, Friday, 4:35 p.m. PT, TruTV)
• No. 7 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 10 Vanderbilt (Cleveland, Friday, 12:15 p.m. PT, TruTV)
• No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 15 Robert Morris (Cleveland, Friday, 9:40 a.m. PT, TruTV)

Midwest region

• No. 6 Illinois vs. No. 11 Texas/Xavier (Milwaukee, Friday, 6:45 p.m. PT, CBS)
• No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Troy (Milwaukee, Friday, 4:10 p.m. PT, CBS)

West region

• No. 1 Florida vs. No. 16 Norfolk State (Raleigh, Friday, 3:50 p.m. PT, TNT)
• No. 8 UConn vs. No. 9 Oklahoma (Raleigh, Friday, 6:25 p.m. PT, TNT)
• No. 5 Memphis vs. No. 12 Colorado State (Seattle, Friday, 11 a.m. PT, TBS)
• No. 4 Maryland vs. No. 13 Grand Canyon (Seattle, Friday, 1:35 p.m. PT, TBS)

Schedule, dates for remaining rounds of the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball tournament

• Round 2 takes place March 22-23
• Sweet 16 takes place March 27-28
• Elite Eight takes place March 29-30
• Final Four tips off on April 5.
• The NCAA championship game: April 7 

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What TV Channels are NCAA Tournament games on?

Most NCAA Tournament games will air on channels like TNT, TBS and TruTV and some games on your local CBS affiliate TV station. The Final Four and national championship game will air on TBS. You can find out more about which channels CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV are on in your area by using the channel finders here: Comcast Xfinity, DIRECTV, Dish, Verizon Fios, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice.

Where can I watch March Madness basketball for free?

• DirecTV Stream is the only streaming service that will have every game of March Madness available. The service has a free trial and is the best option to sign up with for college hoops this month. DirecTV Stream carries all of the channels that will broadcast all men’s and women’s NCAA tournament games this month. With this option, you can at least watch every game of Rounds 1 and 2 for free and then decide if it’s worth paying for one month of access to watch the rest of both the the men’s and women’s tournament.

• The second best option for watching the men’s NCAA tournament is Sling (select the “Orange” plan), which is running a half-off your first-month promotional offer (costs just $23) and has the cheapest overall streaming plans. However, if you go this route, you will need to purchase an HDTV antenna if you don’t have one already. This way, you won’t miss the games being broadcast on CBS, which is not included in the Sling streaming service.

• For cord-cutters: The cheapest way to watch is to sign up for the Max streaming service (plans start at $9.99/month), which will get all tournament games airing on TNT, TBS and truTV, but not those airing on CBS. If you want to add the CBS games, you could pair up your Max subscription with a free trial of Paramount Plus (choose the Paramount+ with Showtime plan), or get an HDTV antenna to add the CBS games as we mentioned above.

• If you already have cable, you can watch every NCAA Tournament game live through the March Madness Live app when you sign in with your cable provider login information.