Iowa-Auburn men’s NCAA basketball tourney glance: Day/time/TV/other info

Hawkeyes and Tigers have never met. Not even briefly.

Mar. 12, 2023 7:31 pm, Updated: Mar. 15, 2023 11:31 am

Iowa men’s basketball coach Tom Davis (center) and assistants Bruce Pearl (left) and Gary Close during a game in Seoul, Korea, during an Asian tour in August 1986.

What: No. 8 seed Iowa (19-13) vs. No. 9 seed Auburn (20-12) in the Midwest Region first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament

Where/when: Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Ala., 5:50 p.m. (CT)

TV: TNT (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson)

Livestream: NCAA.com

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network affiliates, including WMT (600), KKRQ-FM (100.7) and KXIC (800).

Series: First meeting

Facts:

1. This is the fourth-straight NCAA tournament that includes Iowa. Only nine other teams have been in the last four NCAAs.

2. The Hawkeyes’ NCAA tourney record is 31-30. Fran McCaffery’s Iowa teams are 4-6 in the event. Auburn is 18-11. It has won at least one game in each of its last 10 NCAA tourney appearances.

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3. No. 8 seeds are 71-77 against No. 9 teams since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. However, No. 8 seeds are 21-19 over the last 10 tourneys.

4. Five of the last 40 No. 8 seeds advanced to the Sweet 16.

5. Four No. 8 seeds have reached the national-title game, including North Carolina last year. Villanova (1985) is the only No. 8 seed to win the championship.

6. Auburn has lost seven of its last 10 games.

7. The Tigers’ leading scorer (14.0 ppg) and rebounder (8.4 rpg) is 6-foot-10, 235-pound sophomore Johni Broome. He blocked five or more shots in five different games, with a high of eight.

8. Auburn is fifth in the nation in 3-point field goal defense (28.8 percent) and 12th in blocked shots per game (5.1).

9. Iowa 2023 recruits Brock Harding and Owen Freeman led the Moline High team that won the Illinois Class 4A championship Saturday night.

10. The Hawkeyes have played 2,939 games since beginning basketball in 1902, but none have been in Alabama until this one.

11. Under Bruce Pearl, Auburn is 4-0 in Birmingham. The Tigers are 25-9 there all-time.

12. Auburn played nonconference games in Cancun, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Morgantown, W. Va.

13. Iowa is 8-6 against NCAA tourney teams. Auburn is 6-11.

14. The Hawkeyes are 5-10 away from Iowa City.

15. None of Auburn’s top nine scorers are from Alabama.