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The 2023 NCAA Tournament First Round begins on Thursday, March 16 with No. 8 Maryland taking on No. 9 West Virginia. This game is part of the South Region and will be played at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
Below, we’ll break down the start time and how to watch this matchup on TV and streaming.
2023 March Madness: No. 8 Maryland vs. No. 9 West Virginia
Date: Thursday, March 16
Start time: 12:15 p.m. ET
TV channel: CBS
Live stream: March Madness Live
Maryland (21-12, 11-9 Big Ten) finished with the sixth-best record in the Big Ten regular season. Point guard Jahmir Young led the Terrapins with 16.1 points and 3.2 assists per game, receiving All-Big Ten second-team honors for his contributions. The Terrapins missed the NCAA Tournament last year, and their previous appearance was as a No. 10 seed in 2021. Maryland lost in the second round to No. 2 Alabama that year.
West Virginia (19-14, 7-11 Big 12) had a losing conference record, but the Mountaineers turned things around with five wins in their last seven games. One of those losses was by two points to No. 1 seed Kansas on the road. Erik Stevenson leads West Virginia with 15.5 points per game, and he was named to the All-Big 12 third team after the regular season.
The winner of this game will advance to a second-round matchup against the winner of No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 16 Southeast Missouri State/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.