Auburn makes the cut as a 9-seed, matching up with B1G opponent Iowa for the round of 64 in nearby Birmingham, AL.
There may have been some hand-wringing down the stretch, but Bruce & The Boys got it done. Auburn is headed to the NCAA Tournament as a 9-seed with their round-of-64 matchup coming against The Iowa Hawkeyes. A fast-paced scoring team, Iowa displayed plenty of offensive firepower but very little defensive stopping ability over the course of their 19-13 season.
Auburn has faced a similar opponent in Missouri, so it’s had some practice in playing a similar team. The only common opponent between the two teams was Northwestern, who Auburn beat narrowly and who the Hawkeyes split their season series with in two blowouts.
Auburn is going to need to play really solid transition defense and then gather rebounds. […] That’s your path to victory. Get back on defense, secure the defensive rebounds.
– Ike Jones on The Morning Drop
While the 8v9 matchup is bound to be a competitive game, it’s a good thing that Auburn has a fairly good matchup considering its deficiencies rebounding against bigger teams. A trip close to home in Birmingham should make for an Auburn-friendly crowd should help Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers stand a great chance to move on to the round of 32.
You can watch The Morning Drop on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings on The War Rapport’s YouTube channel.