Downtown Buffalo goes MAD for March basketball

By: Colin Richey, Sports Editor

The chaos of the NCAA’s “March Madness” tournament returned to Buffalo for the 2026 men’s tournament. 

A slate of four games on Thursday led to a downtown buzz that couldn’t be matched as fans from around the region poured into every nearby parking lot, bar, restaurant and hot dog stand wearing various Sabres, Bills, NBA and college basketball jerseys and merchandise. 

In game one at KeyBank Center, six-seed Louisville took on 11-seed South Florida. The majority of the crowd was clearly pulling for USF with Head Coach Bryan Hodgson returning to his home city. Born in Olean, a graduate of Jamestown High School and a former assistant coach at UB, the home crowd was reacting loudly to every Bulls’ steal, foul and dunk. Despite the energy of the arena, the Bulls’ comeback effort fell short, falling to the Cardinals 83–79. Perhaps if they’d made one more three pointer, the game would’ve gone differently, but the team’s dreadful 15.2% (5/33) from outside the arc was likely the team’s demise.

Michigan natives flooded in to watch three-seed Michigan State take on 14-seed North Dakota State for game two in Buffalo. With a sea of green chanting behind the Spartans, Tom Izzo led MSU to a dominant 92–67 victory. Up by 20 at halftime, some local fans took advantage of the blowout to exit early and get food outside of KeyBank before the night slate. 

In need of a different ticket to see the final two games on Thursday night, the entire arena needed to be cleared out ahead of one-seed Michigan and 16-seed Howard. The Wolverines were no match for the Bison, besting them 101–80.

The final game on Thursday has not ended at the time of publication, with eight-seed Georgia and nine-seed Saint Louis, as the moon shines down on the city of Buffalo. The nightlife in the city of good neighbors won’t end there thanks to ‘Sabres after dark’ as the red-hot Sabres take on the San Jose Sharks on the west coast on Thursday evening.

After a day filled with fandom, community, good vibes and of course sports, it can all be experienced again this Saturday when a whole new slate of games is set to take place at KeyBank Center.

Via Colin Richey