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NC State vs Purdue live stream: Can you watch for free?

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Seeking to become the first ever 11 seed to advance to the national championship, NC State takes on Zach Edey and No. 1 seed Purdue today at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.

Either way, it’s going to be the first title game in a very long time for someone, as Purdue hasn’t been in a national final since 1969, while the Wolfpack haven’t been there since their Cinderella run to a championship in 1983.

This Final Four game is about to start, at 6:09 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on TBS in the United States. But if you don’t have cable and want to watch March Madness online, we have a number of different ways you can watch a live stream of Purdue vs NC State for free or cheap.

Is There a Free NC State vs Purdue Live Stream?

YouTube TV on Roku.
Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

There are two live-TV streaming services that include TBS and come with a free trial: YouTube TV (“Base Plan”) and DirecTV Stream (“Entertainment” package or above).

Both of these will let you watch for five days before you either cancel or pay for your first month. That means that if you sign up for one of them, you can watch both Final Four games today and Monday’s national championship (all three games are on TBS), then cancel your subscription without needing to pay anything.

Another free option is the March Madness Live app or website, which streams every game of the tournament. Note that you’ll eventually need to sign in with a cable provider to watch this way, but if you’ve never watched anything on here before, you’ll get to stream unrestricted for three hours before you have to sign in. That should be more than enough time to at least watch Purdue vs NC State without a cable log-in.

Other Ways to Watch the NC State vs Purdue Live Stream

Max logo
Max / Max

If you’ve exhausted all of your free trials, there are some pretty cheap live-stream options, too.

Both Final Four games and the national championships will stream live on Max, which costs just $10 per month. With this option, you’ll also be able to watch any NBA on TNT game, so that’s a nice added bonus with the playoffs coming up in a couple of weeks.

An underrated option is Sling TV‘s “Sling Orange” channel package. It includes both TBS and ESPN, and it’ll run you just $20 for your first month ($40 per month after that). That means that if you take free trials out of the equation, this is far and away the cheapest way to watch both the men’s (TBS) and women’s (ESPN) Final Four and national championship.

Watch the NC State vs Purdue Live Stream from Abroad

NordVPN app listing on Apple TV.
Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

If you’re in a country with no way to watch Purdue vs NC State, you can combine a virtual private network (VPN) with one of the aforementioned streaming services. All of those services are restricted by location to US-only, but a VPN can get you around those restrictions by hiding your IP address and connecting you digitally to a server in the United States.

There are plenty of good VPN’s you can choose from, but NordVPN is our top choice. It’s fast, reliable and works with YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream, Sling and Max. It doesn’t come with a free trial, but you can still try it out risk-free thanks to their 30-day money-back guarantee.

Tim Keeney
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Tim is a long-time sports journalist who has written about everything from the NFL to more popular sports such as chess…
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