How long are March Madness games?

NCAA Tournament games are usually around two hours long. Of course, that varies depending on the score and if the game goes into overtime.

A game has two 20-minute halves for a total of 40 minutes of game time. Overtime periods are five minutes.

If the game is close, there are often many more timeouts because coaches take time to draw up plays in crucial situations or manipulate the clock.

There are also way more stoppages of play due to fouls as teams intentionally foul to stop the clock and extend the game. In the tournament, teams are desperate not to have their seasons end, so they will keep fouling even when the game is likely out of reach. This makes tournament games longer than regular-season contests.

There are also more commercials during March Madness, and the television broadcasts extend the game’s running time as a result.

Video reviews of foul calls or an out-of-bounds call also slow down the game as referees watch the instant replay.

Teams also get three 30-second timeouts each and one 60-second timeout to use.

To be more exact, NCAA Tournament games average 2 hours, 10 minutes of real time. They are on average, 8 minutes shorter than a NBA game, which has 48 minutes of game time.

The longest game in tournament history was Canisius against North Carolina State in 1956. The game went to four overtimes with Canisius winning by one point.