How Long is Halftime in College Basketball?

Breaking down how long viewers must wait between halves in college basketball.

Officials review a play during a previous edition of March Madness. / Photo by Steven Ryan / Getty Images

The ball is tipped. And there you are, twenty minutes from halftime, a full first half of basketball ahead of you. Once you navigate all the dead balls, foul calls and TV timeouts it's finally halftime.

You're running for your life. You're a shooting star who needs to use the bathroom before the second half begins. But how much time do you have? How long is the one shining moment where you can get a snack from the concession stand or walk the dog before intermission ends?

Let's find out.

How Long is Halftime in College Basketball?

College basketball halftime is 15 minutes.

But time is short. And the bathroom line is long. In the blink of an eye, halftime is gone.

Sure, college basketball has a longer halftime than a football game which only lasts about 12 minutes, but the Super Bowl halftime show is a full half-hour because of the halftime performance. You won't see any of those during March Madness as not even the championship game features an in-game performance.

There's just about enough time for Alex Rodriguez to take a shot from half court to win a student some money or maybe for a kid to putt a golfball the length of the court and celebrate with Patrick Mahomes.

Whatever you do at halftime, make sure you're back in your seat in approximately a quarter of an hour to catch the start of the second half.

And when it's done, win or lose, you always did your best because inside you knew that halftime was only 15 minutes in a college basketball game.

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