March Madness overtime rules: NCAA Tournament OT length, timeouts, fouls and more

The 2024 NCAA Tournament has been filled with plenty of exciting moments thus far, and the stakes continue to rise with each passing round, which has made for entertaining back-and-forth affairs.

On Saturday night, two contests went to overtime, including a double-OT thriller between the No. 3 seeded Creighton Bluejays and No. 11 Oregon Ducks, and the highly competitive atmosphere of March Madness makes any matchup a threat to go the distance and require additional playing time if the game remains tied after regulation.

While there is no guarantee that we see another overtime period this postseason, it doesn’t hurt to refresh our memories on the rules and format should it happen again.

March Madness overtime rules: NCAA Tournament OT length

If two teams remain tied after 40 minutes of play, they will play a five-minute overtime period to settle the score, per the NCAA’s official rules, in line with the regular season layout.

Should the game remain tied after those five minutes, another overtime period will ensue, as we saw in the meeting between Creighton and Oregon on Saturday. Both sides will continue playing until the stalemate ends and a winner is determined. 

March Madness overtime rules: NCAA Tournament OT timeouts

Each team is entitled to one extra 75-second timeout per overtime period and an additional 30-second stoppage, while any timeouts they didn’t use in regulation carry over to extra time.

March Madness overtime rules: NCAA Tournament OT Fouls

Players in the NCAA Tournament are limited to five fouls in a game. If they foul-out in regulation, they cannot return to the contest in overtime. The bonus rules rollover also, meaning a team will remain in the bonus if they enter the extra period over the foul limit.

If a team commits 7-9 fouls in a half, they are in the bonus, meaning their opponent has one-and-one free throw opportunities until the tenth foul gets called. Once a team has ten fouls, they are in the double bonus, which guarantees two free attempts for every non-shooting penalty.