Auburn and Alabama State meet in first round of NCAA Tournament

Alabama State Hornets (20-15, 15-6 SWAC) vs. Auburn Tigers (28-5, 16-4 SEC)

Lexington, Kentucky; Thursday, 2:50 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Tigers -32.5; over/under is 149.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 4 Auburn plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Alabama State.

The Tigers are 16-4 against SEC opponents and 12-1 in non-conference play. Auburn is 4-1 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

The Hornets are 15-6 in SWAC play. Alabama State is 7-8 against opponents with a winning record.

Auburn averages 83.8 points, 11.7 more per game than the 72.1 Alabama State allows. Alabama State has shot at a 40.6% clip from the field this season, 0.3 percentage points less than the 40.9% shooting opponents of Auburn have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Miles Kelly is shooting 39.4% from beyond the arc with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Tigers, while averaging 11.5 points. Johni Broome is averaging 20.4 points and 10 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Amarr Knox is shooting 40.0% and averaging 14.4 points for the Hornets. CJ Hines is averaging 2.1 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 7-3, averaging 81.3 points, 30.3 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 5.9 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 47.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.0 points per game.

Hornets: 9-1, averaging 70.4 points, 33.8 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 9.6 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 40.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.4 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.