South Alabama Scores NIT Bid, Set to Take on In-State Foe Tuesday

It was a terrific regular season for the South Alabama basketball team, who finished the season with 20+ wins for the second year in a row and the Jags will have a chance to make some noise in the postseason for the first time since 2022, and their first NIT or NCAA bid since 2008.

This long awaited matchup will be an especially fun one too, as the Jags will travel just three hours up the road to Neville Arena and take on the Auburn Tigers at 9 PM on Tuesday night in the opening round of the NIT. This will be the first meeting between the two Alabama schools since December 2020, a game Auburn won 90-81, Auburn leads the all time series between the two 8-4.

“… For our guys to get to go experience that environment, which is one of the best in college basketball, period, is going to be a really cool thing that our guys earned this year. We’re really, really excited about it,” said coach Richie Riley in an interview with AL.com

Auburn comes into this game after just narrowly missing the NCAA tournament. The Tigers listed as just the second team out on Selection Sunday. They finished the year with a 17-16 overall record, ranking 38 in the NET. Their last game, a 72-62 loss to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament, a game that was very much in reach for the Tigers until giving up a 20-0 Vols run late in the second half.

A disappointing ending to a disappointing year for Auburn, who was ranked 20th in the preseason AP poll and picked to finish 6th in the SEC. They were one of only two teams ranked in the preseason AP poll to miss the tournament all together. This will be Auburn’s first NIT appearance since 2009 and the first under new head coach Steven Pearl.

“I’m here to coach basketball. The guys on my roster are here to play basketball, and we’re all here to compete, I’m not going to take my ball and go home because we didn’t make the tournament. So, I just see it as an unbelievable opportunity for our guys to go out there and just compete on a stage,” said Auburn coach Steven Pearl about the NIT.

For South Alabama it was quite the opposite story, a strong regular season for South Alabama, who finished tied for second in the Sun Belt, just a game back from first. The Jags finished the year 21-11 overall, and even had a chance to clinch a share of the Sun Belt regular season title in their last regular season game, but fell to Southern Miss. The Jags followed this with a quick Sun Belt tournament exit, losing their first game in Pensacola 94-85 to Georgia Southern. They will look to pull a big upset after a nearly two week hiatus.

The Jags are led by Sun Belt player of the year Chaze Harris and transfer star Adam Olsen. They lead the team with 19 and 18 points per game respectively. The Jags also feature a unique zone defense that forces teams to rely on threes. The Jags excel at limiting their opponents’ trips to the free throw line, forcing turnovers and limiting points in the paint.

They will have to rely on that defense to stop Auburn’s dynamic duo of Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall. Hall, Auburn’s top scorer averages nearly 20 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, and is shooting an impressive 38% from three point range this year. Pettiford meanwhile averaging 15 points per game, 3 rebounds per game and 3 assists per game. They will work to limit the Jags from the field, a struggle for Auburn who ranks last in the SEC in opponent’s field goal percentage.

Tuesday’s game will broadcast at 9 PM CDT on ESPN2 and on both the Jags Radio Network and the Auburn Sports Network. Tickets to attend are also available through Auburn’s ticket office and can be found here.