Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed, now has an opponent for its first-round game in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Lexington, Ky.
It will be in-state foe Alabama State, a 70-68 winner Tuesday night against St. Francis (Pa.) in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. The Hornets authored a dramatic ending as Amarr Knox converted a last-second layup off a deflected length-of-the-floor pass for a 70-68 win.
It was the seventh straight win for Alabama State (20-15), which is 11-1 in its last 12 games and has the chance to be the third 16th seed to beat a No. 1 seed. UMBC was the first, stunning Virginia in 2018, and Fairleigh Dickinson shocked Purdue in 2023.
“I know we’re going to enjoy this tonight,” Hornets coach Tony Madlock said. “We’re going to have this bus ride, I guess a couple of hours down the road to play in Lexington at Rupp Arena. How can you beat that for a school in the SWAC that has a lot of great tradition for us to go play at Rupp Arena?”
For Alabama State to have any kind of chance at pulling off a major upset, it’s probably going to need to get off to a quicker start than it did on Tuesday while playing the same kind of sticky defense that helped it overcome a virtual game-long deficit.
It could use more heroics from Knox, a 6-foot-3 guard who is second on the Hornets in scoring at 14.3 points per game. They’ll also have to play to their strength – taking care of the ball. Their 8.7 turnovers per game rank seventh in Division I.
The Tigers (28-5) certainly have the experience, depth and quickness to test Alabama State’s ability to value the ball, among other aspects. Although Auburn has lost three of its last four games, including a 70-65 decision Saturday against Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals, it still did more than enough to earn the NCAA Tournament’s top seed.
Coach Bruce Pearl offered a heated response when a questioner asked after the game if he was pushing the panic button. His son, assistant coach Stephen Pearl, offered a more measured response on Tuesday.
“I look back at our last 10,” he said. “We’re 7-3 in our last 10 games. You can’t push the panic button when you lose to three top (25) teams in the country.”
Auburn will be led by national Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome, a 6-10 senior averaging 18.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.3 blocked shots. Broome can’t be blamed for the recent results, averaging 26.7 ppg in the last three games, including 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor against Tennessee.
Four of Broome’s teammates average in double figures, although their scoring has dropped off during this stretch. Only two others were in extra digits Saturday and just six players scored, a rarity for a team that usually plays nine men.
The winner advances to the second round against either No. 8 seed Louisville or No. 9 seed Creighton.
