It’s official: Auburn is one of 68 teams that will compete for a national championship.
The Tigers were named a 9 seed in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament bracket reveal, with their first matchup to be against 8-seed Iowa on Thursday.
The Tigers will not have to travel far, as their first and second-round games will take place at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Tigers (20-12, 10-8 SEC) were placed in the Midwest Region, with the winner of their first-round game to compete against the winner of the game between the region’s 1-seed Houston and 16-seed Northern Kentucky in the second round.
The Hawkeyes have a record of 19-13 this season, with an 11-9 mark in Big Ten play. The Tigers and Hawkeyes have one common opponent this season: Northwestern. Auburn won in its lone meeting with Wildcats, while Iowa split a pair of meetings against them.
Auburn’s selection marks its fourth appearance in the past five tournaments and 12th tournament appearance overall. The Tigers have an all-time record of 18-11 in tournament games, including 10 consecutive first-round victories.
With the selection, Bruce Pearl joins Sonny Smith as the only Auburn men's basketball coaches to reach the NCAA Tournament four times.
The game will begin at 5:50 p.m. CST and will be televised on TNT.
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Matthew is a junior from Huntsville, Alabama majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @mattwallaceAU
