Auburn Daily

No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. Alabama State NCAA Tournament Preview, How to Watch

The No. 1 seeded Auburn Tigers open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday vs. Alabama State.

Auburn Daily Staff

Auburn Tigers forward Johni Broome leads the team in the NCAA Tournament beginning on Thursday.
Auburn Tigers forward Johni Broome leads the team in the NCAA Tournament beginning on Thursday. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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#1 Auburn Tigers (28-5) vs. #16 Alabama State Hornets (20-15)
NCAA First Round
March 20, 2025 at 1:50 p.m. (CT) / 2:50 p.m. (ET)
Rupp Arena (18,500) | Lexington, Ky.

Television: CBS
Play-By-Play: Brian Anderson
Color Analyst: Jim Jackson
Sideline Reporter: Allie LaForce

Radio: Auburn Sports Network
Play-By-Play: Andy Burcham
Color Analyst: Randall Dickey

» No. 1 overall seed and SEC regular-season champion Auburn (28-5) opens play in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship South Region on Thursday against the SWAC champion Alabama State (20-15) at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.

» Alabama State advanced to the 64-team tournament after beating St. Francis 70-68 on their own version of a hail-mary pass play.

» Auburn was one of four schools in the state to make the Big Dance along with SEC archrival Alabama (25-8), Alabama State and Sun Belt champion Troy (23-10).

» The Auburn versus Alabama State winner will play the winner of No. 8 seed Louisville (27-7) and No. 9 seed Creighton (24-10) in the second round on Saturday.

» Auburn was a coveted No. 1 seed once before in 1999 (defeated No. 16 Winthrop and No. 9 Oklahoma State; lost to No. 4 Ohio State in the Sweet 16) and is the No. 1 overall seed for the first time in program history. The Tigers join Florida, Kentucky and LSU as the only schools that have earned multiple No. 1 seeds as a member of the SEC since 1979 when the selection committee started seeding every team.

» AU is making its 14th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and sixth under head coach Bruce Pearl (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025). It is 19-13 all-time (.594) in NCAA Tournament play. The Tigers have made five Sweet Sixteen and two Elite Eight appearances. In 2019, the program made a memorable run to the Final Four.

» The Tigers’ first-round opponent will be the 31st different opponent Auburn has played in the NCAA Tournament.

» Senior two-time All-American and National Player of the Year front runner Johni Broome was honored as SEC Player of the Year by the Associated Press and the league’s coaches. He joined Charles Barkley (1984) and Chris Porter (1999) as the only Tigers to win the AP honor. Broome already received billing as the nation’s top college player by The Sporting News last week.

» Head coach Bruce Pearl was named SEC Coach of the Year after leading Auburn to the SEC regular-season title in a historic year of the league. It was the Tigers’ fifth SEC Championship (three regular season and two tournament) in the last eight seasons.

» Auburn, which matched program records with the 2021-22 squad with 15 SEC wins and 27 regular-season wins, is looking for its 29th overall win of the season, which would match the 1998-99 Tigers for the second-most wins in program history, one victory behind 30 victories during the 2018-19 Final Four season.

» The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for eight-straight weeks from Jan. 13 to March 3 and are one of only two SEC teams to ever be ranked No. 1 for at least six-straight weeks in the AP Poll, joining Kentucky. Auburn is No. 4 in this week’s AP Poll and Coaches Poll.

AUBURN’S BODY OF WORK

» The Tigers secured the No. 1 overall tournament seed by compiling a 28-5 record, winning the SEC regular season by traversing a historic-gauntlet of league games with a 15-3 mark and playing the nation’s toughest schedule, according to Team Rankings, ahead of Alabama, Arizona, Tennessee and Houston in the Top 5. They also played the toughest non-conference slate in program history against the likes of NCAA teams in Duke, Houston, Iowa State, Memphis, North Carolina and Purdue (5-1).

» Auburn’s body work included 24 games against 19 opponents in this year’s tournament field (19-5) as part of a NCAA-and SEC-record 14 teams to earn a bid into the 2025 edition of March Madness. The Tigers also went 16-5 against Quad 1 opponents and hoisted the 2024 Maui Invitational trophy in a loaded tournament field. They were also ranked No. 1 for eight-straight weeks in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and went 8-2 in road games (8-1 in league play).

» All of the Tigers’ five losses this season were to teams in the NCAA Tournament and four of those ranked higher than No. 10 in the country at the time of the meeting.

SERIES HISTORY

» Auburn is an undefeated 6-0 in the all-time series with Alabama State including a 5-0 mark in Auburn and 1-0 at Alabama State. The Hornets are coached by Tony Madlock, who was a former assistant coach for the Tigers under Tony Barbee from 2010-14.

» In both teams’ last meeting two years ago, the Tigers defeated the Hornets, 82-62, on Dec. 22, 2023, at Neville Arena – the only matchup between the two teams during Bruce Pearl's tenure at Auburn. Johni Broome turned in a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds along with three blocks, three steals and one assist in the victory.

» It will be the second time the Tigers have played an in-state opponent in an NCAA Tournament game. No. 2 seed Auburn previously defeated No. 15 seed Jacksonville State, 80-61, in the first round of the 2022 Midwest Regional in Greenville, S.C.

» Should the Tigers advance to the second round, they are tied 1-1 in both of their all-time meetings with Creighton out of the BIG EAST led by Greg McDermott and Louisville out of the ACC led by Pat Kelsey.

AUBURN IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

» Auburn is 19-13 in 13 previous NCAA Tournament appearances including 7-5 in five previous tournament trips under head coach Bruce Pearl.

» The Tigers have reached five Sweet Sixteens (1985, 1986, 1999, 2003 and 2019), two Elite Eights (1986 and 2019) and one Final Four (2019).

» Auburn has now made four-straight March Madness appearances, which is one off a program-best, five-straight NCAA Tournament trips from 1984-88.

» Auburn is a No. 1 seed for the second time in program history (1999) – first No. 1 overall seeded team in this year’s tournament bracket chosen ahead of Duke.

» Leading the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time, Bruce Pearl has more tournament appearances than any other head coach in program history, one more than Sonny Smith, who led Auburn to five-straight appearances from 1984-88.

» A win in the first round would be Pearl’s eighth NCAA Tournament victory in 13 tournament games at Auburn, which would move him ahead of Smith, who posted a 7-5 record in five tournament appearances, for the most NCAA Tournament wins in program history.

» Auburn is 11-2 all-time in opening-round games in the NCAA Tournament.

AUBURN AT RUPP ARENA

» The Tigers return to Rupp Arena this week where it is 4-33 lifetime – all of those games played in their Southeastern Conference history as a program.

» The Tigers are 3-31 against league foe Kentucky on its home court including 0-1 in SEC Tournament play, and 1-2 versus other opponents in SEC Tournament games played at the venue.

» On March 1, Auburn beat Kentucky, 94-78, for just the third time in program history and the first since 1988, snapping a 20-game losing streak at Rupp Arena. With that historic win, the Tigers would claim at least a share of the SEC regular-season title, before arriving home to Auburn hours later and witnessing Tennessee beat Alabama in a thriller on television to claim the title outright.

» With potentials wins in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers would have three wins at Rupp Arena this season, which would match their win total in 36 games there before this season.

COACH PEARL IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

» Bruce Pearl is 17-13 lifetime in the NCAA Division I Tournament including 7-5 at Auburn. Pearl has led his teams to 23 NCAA Tournaments in 30 years as a collegiate head coach and it would be 24 of 30 if the 2020 NCAA Tournament had not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

» Making his sixth tournament appearance with the Tigers, Pearl surpasses legendary head coach Sonny Smith for the most NCAA Tournament appearances in program history.

» Pearl led Auburn to the first NCAA Final Four in program history in 2019 with victories over New Mexico State, Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky. That season was just the second time the Tigers had advanced past the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and the first time since they made it to the NCAA Elite Eight in 1986.

» A win over the Alabama State in the first round would mark his eighth tournament win at Auburn which would pass Smith (7-5) for the most tournament wins in 119 years of Auburn Basketball.

» Coach Pearl was 8-6 in six NCAA Tournament appearances at Tennessee. He led the Volunteers to three NCAA Sweet Sixteens and the first Elite Eight in program history in 2010.

» Pearl led Milwaukee to the first two NCAA D-I Tournament appearances in program history going 2-2. He led the Panthers to the 2005 Sweet Sixteen with victories over No. 5 seed Alabama, 83-73, and No. 4 seed Boston College, 83-75, in Cleveland, Ohio.

» Additionally, he led Southern Indiana to NCAA Division II Tournament play in all nine seasons he led the program. Pearl finished with a 16-8 record in NCAA Tournament action leading the Screaming Eagles to the 1995 NCAA Division II National Championship.

TIGERS vs. THE 2025 NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD

» Twenty-four of Auburn's 33 games this season have come against the NCAA Tournament field with the Tigers posting a 19-5 record in these games.

» Auburn has played all three of the other No. 1 seeds including a 74-69 victory over Houston on Nov. 9 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Additionally, the Tigers have played eight other games against top four seeds including four games against No. 2 seeds, two games against No. 3 seeds and two games against No. 4 seeds.

» Sixteen of Auburn's 18 games during its SEC regular-season championship run, where the Tigers compiled a 15-3 record, were against 2025 NCAA Tournament squads.

» The SEC set a record by having 14 of the conference's 16 teams invited to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, breaking the old mark of 11 BIG EAST teams in 2011.

AUBURN ADVANCES TO SEC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS

» Auburn enters the NCAA Tournament fresh off a trip to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville.

» The Tigers defeated Ole Miss, 62-57, in the quarterfinals, before falling to Tennessee, 70-65, in the semifinals. All four semifinalists are either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Auburn and Florida are No. 1 seeds, while Alabama and Tennessee are No. 2 seeds.

» It was Auburn's fourth trip to the semifinals under head coach Bruce Pearl including tournament titles in 2019 and 2024.

» For the second year in a row, Johni Broome was an SEC All-Tournament Team selection after averaging 23.0 points on 63.0 percent shooting from the floor along with 11.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assists against the Rebels and Vols combined.

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Auburn Daily Staff
AUBURN DAILY STAFF

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