2017 Sweet 16 schedule: Florida Gators to face Wisconsin on Friday night in NCAA Tournament

Basketball

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The East Region of the 2017 NCAA Tournament is officially wide open with the top two seeds eliminated. The four-seed Florida Gators and eight-seed Wisconsin Badgers will square off in the Sweet 16 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York looking to move one step closer to the Regional Final.

Florida-Wisconsin will tip at approximately 9:59 p.m. ET on Friday and air live nationally on TBS with Verne Lundquist, Jim Spanarkel and Allie LaForce on the call. It will follow three-seed Baylor against seven-seed South Carolina in the other half of the bracket, which tips at 7:29 p.m. ET.

The 9:59 p.m. scheduled start time makes this the latest UF will tip a basketball game in local time since at least 1998.

Here’s a look at the full 2017 Sweet 16 schedule (all times Eastern):

Thursday, March 23
7:09 p.m. (CBS) — Oregon vs. Michigan (Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner, Dana Jacobson)
7:39 p.m. (TBS) — Gonzaga vs. West Virginia (Brian Anderson, Chris Webber, Lewis Johnson)
9:39 p.m. (CBS) — Kansas vs. Purdue (Harlan, Miller, Bonner, Jacobson)
10:09 p.m. (TBS) — Arizona vs. Xavier (Anderson, Webber, Johnson)

Friday, March 24
7:09 p.m. (CBS) — North Carolina vs. Butler (Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery, Tracy Wolfson)
7:29 p.m. (TBS) — Baylor vs. South Carolina (Verne Lundquist, Jim Spanarkel, Allie LaForce)
9:39 p.m. (CBS) — Kentucky vs. UCLA (Nantz, Hill, Raftery, Wolfson)
9:59 p.m. (TBS) — Florida vs. Wisconsin (Lundquist, Spanarkel, LaForce)

In the East Region, the Gators will be looking to advance to the Elite Eight for the ninth time in program history and fifth time in the last seven seasons, while the Badgers will attempt to advance for the seventh time in program history and third time in the last four years. The Bears are attempting to go to their fifth Elite Eight (third in the last eight years), while the Gamecocks have never advanced that far in the NCAA Tournament.

The East and Midwest Regions will square off in the 2017 Final Four. Kansas, Oregon, Purdue and Michigan remain from that quadrant of the bracket.