March Madness in Buffalo

With March Madness beginning on Thursday, March 19th, Buffalo was one of the lucky cities to host games in Rounds 1 and 2, featuring some of the most talented teams and exciting matchups! Between the atmosphere of the games in KeyBank Center (where the games were hosted), the profit made from the games, and the games themselves, it’s safe to say that March Madness in Buffalo 2026 was a massive success! Buffalo had previously hosted March Madness games in 2022, 2017, 2014, 2010, 2007, 2004, and 2000. Over the years, Buffalo seemed to be a convenient and successful place to host games in the earlier rounds, prompting the NCAA to select it as a host for Rounds 1 and 2 once more.

For March Madness, a variety of people would pile into the seats of KeyBank Center. Since people don’t know for sure where teams will play until Selection Sunday (just four days before Round 1 begins), many teams were well-represented at KeyBank Center.  This created a diverse yet exciting atmosphere! Furthermore, while Buffalonians would fill seats at the games, many people would come from out of town to see their favorite team play or to just see some college basketball, helping hotels and local restaurants from Thursday to Saturday, boosting profit and overall growing in popularity throughout the weekend!  

Regarding the games themselves, Buffalo would end up getting a mix of blowouts and tight games. Beginning with Session 1, Day 1, Game 1, the 6 seed Louisville would face the 11 seed South Florida. From the start, Louisville would get ahead with strong three-point shooting and control over the game on both ends of the court. South Florida struggled to get the three-ball to fall, and despite a strong second half that shifted momentum for a bit, Louisville would eventually hang on and win 83-79. Louisville would be led by Issac McKneely, who had 23 points and some key three-pointers to keep Louisville in control of the game. In Game 2 of Session 1, Michigan State would take on North Dakota State, and as expected, Michigan State would destroy North Dakota State by a score of 92-67. While it was an overall team effort, Carson Cooper would lead Michigan State in scoring with 20 points, along with 10 rebounds, to help lead Michigan State to victory.

After fans from Session 1 were escorted out, Session 2 on Thursday would begin with 16 seed Howard playing 1 seed Michigan. While Howard would give an extraordinary push to pull off the upset, Michigan would pull ahead and win 101-80. Morez Johnson would lead the team in rebounds and points to lead them to victory. Following Howard vs Michigan, St. Louis and Georgia would face off, ending in a somewhat shocking blowout that would favor St. Louis by a score of 102-77. Dion Brown would score 18 points on high efficiency to secure the win for St. Louis.

After no games on Friday, Saturday would have some round 2 matchups based on the winners of games held in Buffalo on Thursday. To start the day, Michigan would face St. Louis, which would eventually lead to Michigan moving on to the Sweet 16. While St. Louis and Michigan were going back and forth in the first half and to start the second half, Michigan would eventually pull ahead and leave St. Louis behind, leading to their 95-72 victory in a total team effort. Following St. Louis and Michigan playing each other, Michigan State would take on Louisville in what was considered one of the better (if not the best) games in Buffalo this year. Both teams would go back and forth with each other throughout most of the game, resulting in quick and exciting momentum shifts throughout the game. However, Michigan State would pull ahead with a strong game from Coen Carr on both ends of the court and strong leadership from head coach Tom Izzo in a pressuring and intense game.  

While March Madness won’t conclude for another week or so, the end of Michigan State vs Louisville would bring an end to games held in Buffalo for this year’s tournament. Once more, Buffalo was seen as a strong location for games, with the strong local restaurants and hotels catering to the massive out-of-town crowd, the atmosphere within KeyBank Center being electric and fun, and the games being intense in such an exciting time of the year for college basketball and sports in general. It has been evident that the NCAA enjoys bringing March Madness games to Buffalo, so hopefully, games will return once more very soon!