Schedules are shaping up across the country for the upcoming college basketball season, and before we know it, November will be here, and the season will be underway. As we await its arrival, we answer a frequently asked question among newbies in the world of the sport: how long are college basketball games?
40 Minutes
College games are slightly shorter than the 48-minute games played in the NBA. Men’s college basketball games are 40 minutes long with two 20-minute halves. As for women’s games, they are the same length but are divided into four ten-minute quarters. There has been some talk within the men’s side of moving to quarters, but there are currently no plans to do so at this time.
Commercial breaks take place approximately every four minutes in college basketball games. The initial break comes at the first whistle under 16 minutes, then 12 minutes, and so on. A college basketball game will take roughly two hours to complete in real-time.
If the score is tied between the teams after 40 minutes, the game will enter overtime, where they will play five-minute periods until the tie is broken.
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