:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72086805/usa_today_20252556.5.jpg "2023 March Madness bracket: Who is Baylor playing in second round of NCAA Tournament")
The Baylor Bears will continue their quest for a second national championship in three years, as they romped the UCSB Gauchos 74-56 to open their 2023 NCAA Tournament run on Friday.
2023 March Madness bracket
The Bears will face the winner of Friday's matchup between the No. 6 Creighton Bluejays and No. 11 NC State Wolfpack. They'll face off on Sunday at Ball Arena in Denver. Tip-off time will be announced later Friday night.
Baylor has faced NC State once in their history, and that was all the way back in 1950. The schools faced off in the third-place game of the the NCAA Tournament that year, with the Wolfpack winning 53-41. Baylor and Creighton have faced off five times, with the Bluejays leading the series 3-2. They most recently met in 2017 non-conference play, with No. 22 Baylor beating unranked Creighton 65-59. Prior to that, they met in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, where the sixth-seeded Bears upset the third-seeded Bluejays 85-55 in the second round.
UCSB has faced Creighton three times and NC State twice. The Gauchos are 2-3 against the Bluejays and 1-1 against the Wolfpack. They haven't faced NC State since 1987, but met the Bluejays in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Fifth-seeded Creighton avoided the 5/12 upset when they hit a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining and won 63-62.