Auburn earned a massive win on Saturday in its attempt to make the NCAA Tournament by beating No. 16 Florida 76-67 in Gainesville, the Tigers’ first win on the road against the Gators since 1996.
In ESPN’s latest NCAA Bracketology, Steven Pearl’s team jumped up two seeds to No. 7 in the South Region, playing their first two games in Oklahoma City, and facing UCLA in the first round. A win against the Bruins would bring a matchup against either No. 2 seed Nebraska or No. 15 seed UT-Arlington. The Cornhuskers are the feel-good story of the season and will look to win their first NCAA Tournament game in history.
After starting SEC play 0-2, Auburn responded with a rout of No. 15 Arkansas in Neville Arena. Keyshawn Hall led the Tigers with 32 points in the 95-73 victory over the Razorbacks, while KeShawn Murphy brought down 10 points and Tahaad Pettiford dished out seven assists.
Auburn up to a No. 7 seed after two straight road wins
Following a road loss to Missouri, the Tigers have won three straight, including a home victory against South Carolina, before back-to-back road wins at Ole Miss and Florida. Hall was crucial in both road victories, scoring a team-high 19 points against the Rebels before putting up another team-high 24 points against the Gators, in which 22 of those points came in the first half.
Auburn hosts Texas on Wednesday night before a trip to Knoxville to battle Rick Barnes’ Tennessee Volunteers in a Saturday evening game. The Tigers will have opportunities to impress the tournament committee even more with upcoming battles against No. 23 Alabama, No. 18 Vanderbilt and a road trip to Fayetteville to take on the 15th-ranked Razorbacks.
As of the latest bracketology, the SEC has 10 teams in the field, including the Tigers, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas A&M, Texas, Florida and Kentucky.