Here are Friday’s key March Madness 2023 games to watch:
No. 10 USC vs. No. 7 Michigan State: 12:15 p.m., CBS
In a tournament featuring Alabama and its unseemly response to a shooting, consider pulling for Michigan State and its Hall of Fame coach, Tom Izzo.
After a February campus shooting killed three students, Izzo spoke out against gun violence at a candlelight vigil in East Lansing.
He’s as close to a sure thing as there is in March, having won at least one game in eight of his past 10 NCAA Tournaments with the Spartans.
No. 15 Vermont vs. No. 2 Marquette: 2:45 p.m., CBS
No team in the country has been a bigger surprise than Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles, who were picked to finish ninth in the Big East preseason poll yet went on to capture the conference’s regular-season and tournament titles.
Guard Tyler Kolek, second in the country with 7.7 assists per games, makes this explosive offense hum.
No. 11 N.C. State vs. No. 6 Creighton: 4 p.m., TNT
Another Big East team takes the court when Creighton, a popular sleeper pick in brackets, matches up with the high-scoring Wolfpack out of the ACC.
N.C. State (78.2) and Creighton (76.6) are two of the higher-scoring teams in the country, so if you’re looking for a track-meet game, this could be it.
Keep an eye on N.C. State’s backcourt tandem of Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner, who combine to average nearly 35 points a game.
No. 11 Providence vs. No. 6 Kentucky: 7:10 p.m., CBS
Kentucky fans don’t have fond memories of the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament appearance last year, when they were stunned as a 2-seed by 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s in overtime.
Ever since then, Kentucky coach John Calipari has been battling critics of his team, which was on the bubble much of the year before a late-season surge.
He’ll rely on big man Oscar Tshiebwe, whose 30 points last year weren’t enough to prevent the first-round upset.
Coach Ed Cooley’s Friars out of the Big East are looking to build off last year’s run to the Sweet 16.
No. 13 Kent St. vs. No. 4 Indiana: 9:55 p.m., TNT
Former Knicks coach Mike Woodson is back in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year, possessing one of the most dominant players in the country, senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, who’s a menace in the paint and as a ball-handler.
The Golden Flashes haven’t won a tournament game since 2002, but MAC teams have pulled off March Madness upsets recently, including Buffalo in 2019 and Ohio in 2021.