First Four 2018: Schedule and start times for NCAA Tournament opening games

The 2018 NCAA Tournament opens Tuesday with the start of the First Four round in Dayton, Ohio. All four games will be broadcast live on TruTV as part of the lead up to the beginning of the first round around the country Thursday.

The First Four games are split across two days to serve as a bit of a March Madness appetizer. The games involve lower-seeded teams that are competing to advance to much tougher matchups in the first round.

Radford and LIU Brooklyn will face off in a matchup of No. 16 seeds from the East Region to open the tournament. They play at 5:40 p.m. CT Tuesday and the winner will advance to take on No. 1 seed Villanova in the next round. After that, No. 11 seeds UCLA and Saint Bonaventure will take on each other with a matchup against No. 6 seed Florida on the line.

On Wednesday, North Carolina Central will face Texas Southern for the No. 16 seed in the West Region and a matchup against No. 1 seed Xavier, then Syracuse and Arizona tip off to see who will face No. 6 seed TCU in the Midwest Region.

All four games are single elimination, like the rest of the tournament, so the stakes will be high as always. Here’s to hoping this year’s March Madness gets off to a thrilling start.

How to watch First Four, 2018 NCAA Tournament

Tuesday, March 13

East Region: No. 16 LIU Brooklyn vs. No. 16 Radford

Time: 5:40 p.m. CT

TV: TruTV

Live stream: NCAA.com

East Region: No. 11 Saint Bonaventure vs. No. 11 UCLA

Time: 8:10 p.m. CT

TV: TruTV

Live stream: NCAA.com

Wednesday, March 14

East Region: No. 16 North Carolina Central vs. No. 16 Texas Southern

Time: 5:40 p.m. CT

TV: TruTV

Live stream: NCAA.com

East Region: No. 11 Syracuse vs. No. 11 Arizona State

Time: 8:10 p.m. CT

TV: TruTV

Live stream: NCAA.com