Akron draws No. 13 seed in March Madness, will face No. 4 seed Arizona

The Zips and Wildcats square off in Seattle on Friday night, as Akron aims for its first March Madness win.

The MAC champion was decided by the thinnest of margins.

Thanks to Nate Johnson’s game-winning layup with 2.3 seconds remaining, the Akron Zips overcame an 18-point deficit to defeat Miami (OH) on Saturday night for the MAC championship. Akron’s last-second officially win punched a ticket to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and the Zips are the first MAC team to earn consecutive bids since 2018 and 2019 Buffalo.

Now the Zips know their place in the bracket, their seed, their destination, and their tipoff time.

Akron drew a No. 13 seed in the East region and will face No. 4 seed Arizona in the opening round of March Madness. The game is set in Seattle on Friday, March 21 and tipoff is slated for 7:35 p.m. ET on TruTV. It will be the first matchup between the programs in men’s college basketball history.

The winner of the Arizona-Akron matchup will battle the winner of the final game of the opening round — No. 5 seed Oregon vs. No. 12 seed Liberty. The Round of 32 matchup between the victors is set for Sunday in Seattle. Whichever team comes out of that 4-team grouping unscathed clinches a spot in the East regional Sweet 16, which is held in Newark, NJ the following weekend.

This marks Akron’s third tournament appearance under 8th-year head coach John Groce and the program’s seventh appearance overall. The Zips have never won a tournament game at the Division I level before, falling short as recently as last year to Creighton in a No. 3 vs. No. 14 seed first round matchup. The last two MAC tournament wins, both by Buffalo, occurred against Arizona schools. The Bulls defeated Arizona in 2018 (in a similar No. 4 vs. No. 13 seed matchup) and followed it up with another first round victory over Arizona State in 2019.

Akron aims to add to the MAC’s recent track record against the Grand Canyon State on Friday night in Seattle.

The full 2025 March Madness bracket with seeds, tip times, networks, and locations is below.