Auburn Daily

Auburn Tigers vs. Creighton Bluejays Preview, How to Watch

The No. 1 seeded Auburn Tigers take on the No. 9 seeded Creighton Bluejays in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.

Auburn Daily Staff

Auburn Tigers forward Johni Broome and Denver Jones lead their team against the Creighton Bluejays on Saturday night.
Auburn Tigers forward Johni Broome and Denver Jones lead their team against the Creighton Bluejays on Saturday night. / Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
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#1 Auburn Tigers (29-5) vs. #9 Creighton (25-10)
NCAA Second Round
March 22, 2025 at 6:10 p.m. (CT) / 7:10 p.m. (ET)
Rupp Arena (20,500) | Lexington, Ky.

Television: TBS/truTV
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 (29-5) faces Creighton (25-10) out of the BIG EAST in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship South Region on Saturday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.

» The ninth-seeded Bluejays knocked off eighth-seeded Louisville, 89-75, in the opening round. Creighton was one of four lower seeds to win on the first day of March Madness next to No. 11 Drake def. No. 6 Missouri, No. 10 Arkansas def. No. 7 Kansas and No. 12 McNeese def. No. 5 Clemson.

» Guard Jamiya Neal led the Bluejays with 29 points on 11 of 16 shooting, including 2 of 5 from beyond the arc. He also led the team with six assists and 12 rebounds in 39 minutes.

» Center Ryan Kalkbrenner led the team in scoring and rebounding during the regular season with 19.2 and 8.7 per game respectively.

Creighton took on two SEC teams in the regular season. They lost to Texas A&M 77-73 on November 27th and Alabama 83-75 on December 14th.

» 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 Creighton winner will play the winner of No. 4 seed Texas A&M (23-10) and No. 5 seed Michigan (26-9) in next week’s NCAA Sweet Sixteen in Atlanta.

NCAA Bracket

» 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 20-13 all-time (.606) 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.

» 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. He broke Mike Mitchell’s program record with his 19th double-double of the season against Alabama State (14 points and 11 rebounds).

» 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 AU's fifth SEC Championship (3 regular season and 2 tournament) in the last eight seasons. Pearl set a program record with his eighth NCAA Tournament win against Alabama State.

» Auburn, which matched program records with the 2021-22 squad with 15 SEC wins and 27 regular-season wins, is looking for its 30th overall win of the season, which would tie a school-record 30 victories during the 2018-19 Final Four season.

» Auburn was ranked No. 1 in the AP 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.

INSIDE THE SERIES

» Auburn and Creighton are tied 1-1 in the all-time series between the two schools. Saturday’s matchup will be the second NCAA Tournament game between the two teams and the second time both teams have met each other in the Bluegrass State.

» The Tigers won the most recent meeting with the Bluejays, 72-69, in the 2000 NCAA First Round in Minneapolis, Minn. Daymeon Fishback, who is a college basketball analyst for SEC Network, led Auburn with 16 points, going 4-of-5 from deep, while Mamadou N'diaye posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Mack McGadney chipped in 15 points in the victory. Creighton won the first game in the series, 81-76, in the Louisville Holiday Classic on Dec. 28, 1976, in Louisville, Ky.

» Auburn and Creighton played two common opponents this season. The Tigers split a pair of games with Alabama beating the Crimson Tide, 94-85, in Tuscaloosa and dropping a 93-91 overtime decision at Neville Arena in the regular-season finale, while the Bluejays lost 83-75 in Tuscaloosa. Both teams lost to Texas A&M – Auburn an 83-72 setback in College Station and Creighton a 77-73 decision in Las Vegas.

AUBURN IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

» Auburn is 20-13 in 14 previous NCAA Tournament appearances including 8-5 in six 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.

» Auburn's win over Alabama State in the first round was Pearl’s eighth NCAA Tournament victory in 13 tournament games at Auburn, which moves 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 12-2 all-time in opening-round games in the NCAA Tournament.

ALABAMA STATE RECAP

» Auburn’s 20-point win against Alabama State was the second-largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game in program history trailing the Tigers’ 80-41 victory over Winthrop in the NCAA First Round in 1999.

» With its 83 points versus the Hornets, Auburn has now scored 2,850 points on the season going over 2,800 points for the third time in program history. The Tigers scored a school-record 3,188 points in 2018-19 and 2,909 points last season.

» Auburn drained 11 three-pointers which was the 16th time the Tigers have made double-digit 3-point field goals in a single game this season.

» The Tigers placed four players in double figures led by Miles Kelly with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting from long range against the Hornets. His seven 3-pointers tied Bryce Brown’s program NCAA Tournament single-game record. Kelly has made 83 three-point field goals on the season, moving past Jabari Smith for 10th on the school’s single-season 3-pointer list. He is 16-of-29 from deep in two games played at Rupp Arena this season after making 9-of-14 3-pointers in Auburn’s historic win at Kentucky on March 1. It was Kelly’s first NCAA Tournament appearance after playing his first three seasons at Georgia Tech.

» Freshman Tahaad Pettiford scored 16 points and added five rebounds and five assists in his first career NCAA Tournament game. It was his 19th game in double figures this season, which is tied with Rasheem Barrett (2005-06) and Gary Redding (1972-73) for the eighth-most by a freshman in program history. Pettiford passed Jared Harper for eighth on Auburn’s freshman scoring chart with 380 points. He also tied Ronnie Battle for the third-most 3-pointers by a freshman in school history with 64. He has 100 assists on the season, becoming the fourth freshman in school history to record 100 assists.

» Chaney Johnson finished with 13 points and seven boards in the win. It was his 90th career game in double figures including the 16th of the season with 14 of his double-figure scoring games coming off the bench.

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