NCAA Tournament First Round: No. 2 UConn men’s basketball vs. No. 15 Furman| 10 p.m., TBS
The Huskies look to start a run for their third title in four seasons on Friday night.
SPARTANBURG, SC - FEBRUARY 21: Furman Paladins forward Ben Vander Wal (4) shares a moment with Furman Paladins head coach Bob Richey as time is close to expire during a college basketball game between the Furman Paladins and the Wofford Terriers on February 21, 2026 at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium in Spartanburg, S. C. (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images UConn men’s basketball (29-5) is set to begin its 2026 March Madness journey on Friday night as the 2-seed Huskies travel down to Philadelphia for an East Region first round matchup with the SoCon champion and 15-seed Furman (22-12) at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Paladins finished tied for fifth in the SoCon regular season standings, but ran through the conference tournament as the 6-seed at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina to cut down the nets and clinch the program’s eighth bid to the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Bob Richey has been guiding the team since 2017 and led the Paladins to the big dance for the second time during his tenure after Furman hadn’t made it since 1980. They come into Friday ranked No.
188 in KenPom. The Huskies sit at No. 11 in KenPom and have made the NCAA Tournament in six consecutive seasons since rejoining the Big East in 2020, a program record.
UConn failed to clinch the automatic qualifier, falling to St. John’s in the Big East title game on Saturday, but more than comfortably got in as an at-large. Dan Hurley has a dominant track record in Mach Madness since getting to Storrs, boasting a 13-3 record over the past five seasons with two national championships.
Continue to the original source for the full article.