The NCAA Tournament gets started on Tuesday with the First Four as the Hampton Pirates and Manhattan Jaspers face off and the matchup is from University of Dayton Arena in Ohio and the game starts at 6:40 pm ET and will be on TV from truTV from Turner and streaming online from the channel on the NCAA March Madness website.
Hampton comes into the game after winning against Delaware State and that matchup was a bit of a blowout and now they will try and play their way into the tournament. The matchup here has two 16 seeded teams and Hampton comes in with a losing record, but they ended up coming out of the MEAC and now get the chance to hang around. The team went just 8-8 in their conference and now they will officially start the tournament.
The teams play out of the Midwest region and that is where Kentucky will be, which means that this game lines up whoever will lose to undefeated Kentucky. Hampton comes in ranked in the top 50 in rebounding on offense this season and they have now won four games in a row. The team had lost two straight before coming into their conference tournament and now they have the chance to keep it going.
The team is hoping to advance and this comes after winning five of the last seven overall, including the conference tournament. The team had a six game losing streak earlier in the season and now they go for five wins in a row. Manhattan comes into the game after a win against Iona and they were in the MAAC and came out of that with a 13-7 record.
The team has danced before and now they come in as a number 16 seed and they are trying to get into the tournament after going 19-13 on the season. The team averages 70 points per game and they have also won four games in a row. The team won against Iona after losing to them in February and they have won seven of the last eight games. Kentucky will likely take down whoever wins this game, but it's a great experience for both teams.
Reginald Johnson is leading Hampton in scoring with 11 points per game and he will be looked at to get things going. Hampton started the season with just one win over their first five games and two in the first 10, but they were able to bounce back and now they are here after winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament title. Kentucky is a number one seed along with Duke, Villanova and Wisconsin and now these 16-seeds will try and make some history.
Check here for the NCAA Tournament live coverage for Hampton and Manhattan.
