What is the start time and TV schedule for North Dakota vs. Arizona?

The Arizona Wildcats’ NCAA tournament journey starts Thursday night in Salt Lake City against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.

The game trips at approximately 9:50 p.m. ET. You can stream it at this link or watch it on television on TBS, with broadcasters Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, and Jamie Erdahl.

Arizona is the No. 2 seed in the West region, and North Dakota State is the No. 15. It’s needless to say it’d be a massive upset if the Wildcats were to fall, but I’ll say it anyway. Zona has hovered around a 17-point favorite since Selection Sunday, and Ken Pomeroy’s projection model gives the Cats a 92 percent chance to advance.

The talent differential between the two teams is huge, probably too much so for the Hawks to overcome it. Arizona’s rotation is stocked with four- and five-star recruits North Dakota simply can’t get, and that’s not a knock on the Hawks. It’s the reality when a legacy Pac-12 program meets a Big Sky team in the NCAA tournament.

Arizona’s statistical profile says the Wildcats aren’t quite as good as their 30-4 record. On offense, they’re good at pretty much everything but elite at nothing. On defense, the story’s pretty similar, except their three-point defense has been some of the best in the country. Sean Miller’s team profiles as good with upside, but not great just yet.

That should be enough against North Dakota. The Hawks are a good shooting team, but getting decent looks against the Big Sky and getting them against Arizona are two drastically different things. Arizona has a bunch of capable scorers, but it should only take one or two of them having a big night for the Cats to score enough points to win.

North Dakota fouls and gives up lots of free throws, and getting to the line is an Arizona strength. Even if Allonzo Trier, Lauri Markkanen, Rawle Alkins, and Kobi Simmons all go cold from the field at once, the Cats should have chances to pile up 20 or so points at the line. Too many things need to go wrong for them not to win.

The Hawks have some good players to watch, though. Their guard duo of Geno Crandall and Quinton Hooker brings a nice mix of three-point shooting and playmaking skills, and they might make enough plays to keep this game close for a little while. If they do anything more than that, it’ll be one of the biggest tournament upsets ever.