Kentucky basketball survived and advanced in a thrilling game in St. Louis. Otega Oweh lifted the Cats to overtime with a half-court heave. The Cats then shut down Santa Clara in OT to get the win. Shortly after Iowa State took the court, Joshua Jefferson hurt his ankle in a nasty-looking incident. X-rays were negative, but we still have no idea if he can play.
We do now know when they will play.
NCAA releases start times for Round of 32 games
After UCONN outlasted Furman behind Tarris Reed Jr.'s historic 31-point, 27 rebound perfomance, the NCAA released the start times for Sunday's games.
🚨SUNDAY SECOND ROUND TIP TIMES🚨 pic.twitter.com/E2uBxdfcy3
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 21, 2026
Kentucky has a chance to shine
The Cats and the Cyclones will tip off at 2:45 PM from St. Louis. Both teams will come in rested, as they played early games today as well. Iowa State tipped off right after Kentucky and Santa Clara were done.
There will be no other games around, so everyone will be watching the Cats. This is a huge opportunity for Mark Pope's squad to capitalize on some much-needed momentum. If they can pull off an upset of Iowa State with no other game watching, everyone will feel a lot better about how this season went down.
A loss here doesn't hurt you too much. Iowa State is the better team, but without Jefferson, it is a much different game. We will bring you all the latest as announcements come. All we know right now is that he was seen on crutches and wrapped up, and maybe has an ankle sprain.
Prognosis for Joshua Jefferson is a sprained left ankle. He says X-rays were negative. pic.twitter.com/ECh0gyCreN
— Jack Lido (@JackLido) March 20, 2026
Trend of early games continues for Kentucky
If you like early games, you have loved Kentucky's postseason so far. The Cats started as the 9 seed in the SEC Tournament, meaning they got the early game in every round they advanced. Starting at 12:30 against LSU, the Cats have not played a game later than Sunday's affair with Iowa State.
12:30 PM- LSU
12:30 PM- Missouri
1:00 PM- Florida
12:15 PM- Santa Clara
2:45 PM- Iowa State
After the wild emotional ride the last 24 hours have been, it will be nice to get a day to watch other teams battle it out before getting right back to it. Such is the joy of March Madness: the next game is never far away, unless you lose.