Auburn Overcomes Sloppy First Half to Defeat Alabama State, Face Creighton

March 21, 2025 Michael Brauner AU BASKETBALL, Auburn, Auburn, Featured News
NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 15: Auburn Tigers forward Johni Broome (4) celebrates a made basket during a quarterfinal round game of the men's Southeastern Conference Tournament between the Auburn Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks, March 15, 2024, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire)

The No. 1 overall seed Auburn Tigers earned an 83-63 first-round victory over the 16th-seeded Alabama State Hornets on Thursday. Auburn will now advance into the Round of 32 and take on the No. 9 seeded Creighton Bluejays after their win over No. 8 seed Louisville.

It was not pretty the entire day for the top seed as Auburn’s lead was cut to just one point late in the first half via a 16-4 Alabama State run before the Tigers closed the half on a 9-0 run to lead by 10 headed into the break.

After jumping out to an 18-point lead just over five minutes into the second frame, things were just about wrapped up by the halfway point of the second frame as Auburn eventually walked away with the 20-point win.

The hero from Alabama State’s opening game first four win against Saint Francis, guard Amarr Knox, gave Auburn all kinds of problems with 18 points. For the Tigers, it was Miles Kelly leading the way with 23 points during what was a relatively quiet day for Johni Broome.

Auburn’s star finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Chaney Johnson added 13 off the bench. Freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford had a big day as well with 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists.

The victory was Bruce Pearl’s eighth NCAA Tournament victory as Auburn’s head coach, giving him the most in program history passing Sonny Smith’s total of seven. In the 14 tournament appearances for the program’s history, they now move to 12-2 in first round games.

While it was not a terrible performance from the Tigers by any means, they will have to be much better on Saturday in order to defeat Creighton after the Bluejays looked fairly spectacular against Louisville.

Auburn faces Creighton tomorrow night at 6:10 p.m. CST.