The Portland Pilots return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 26 years. They’ll be taking on the 5-seed Oklahoma on Saturday March 18 in Los Angeles. Here’s everything you need to know about the NCAA tournament.
Games start Friday March 17 with the first round tallying 32 teams. To watch the games make sure to check which ESPN realm they will be shown on, from ESPN 2 to ESPNU.
The Pilots first play at 6 p.m. and there are a few ways to follow the game. First, you can watch it on ESPNU, this can be accessed with an ESPN+ subscription and if you want you can use a free trial to keep up with UP. You can also listen to the game on 1080 The Fan. You can also likely follow stats on the NCAA website if you just want to watch the stats.
If you’re on campus Pilot House will be showing the game on the big screen.
There will be a team send off outside of the Chiles Center Thursday, March 16 at noon.
Some background on the teams:
The Pilots, who are seeded 12th in the Greenville one portion of the bracket finished the season 23-8 overall and finished 15-3 in WCC play (second in the league). Their overall record for this season was their best since 1996-97 and their WCC record was the best in program history.
The Oklahoma Sooners, who are seeded 5th in the Greenville one portion of the bracket finished 25-6 overall and finished conference play with a 14-4 record. They finished second in the Big 12 and advanced to semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
The Beacon will also be covering the game on Saturday so follow our Instagram (link) and stay tuned for a post game story.
Wilder Isom is the sports editor at The Beacon. She can be reached at isomw24@up.edu.
Correction: an earlier version of this article stated that the Pilots were seeded 16th in the tournament, they are actually seeded 12th.
