STORRS, Conn. – The Auburn women are back in the NCAA Tournament, and they will kick off their March Madness journey Thursday night as they take on the Arizona Wildcats in the First Four in Storrs, Connecticut.
Game time is 6:10 p.m. CT at Gampel Pavilion on the campus of the University of Connecticut with a national broadcast on ESPN2.
The Tigers (20-11, 8-8 SEC) are making their 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2019. Arizona (17-15, 8-10 Pac-12) is in their fourth straight NCAA Tournament and 11th in program history; the Wildcats were NCAA Runner-Up in 2021.
The winner of Thursday's game will move into the bracket as the 11-seed in the Portland 3 Regional and will face sixth-seeded Syracuse on Saturday.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call on AU100 (100.3 FM) beginning at 5:45 p.m. CT Thursday. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Thursday's game can be seen on ESPN2 with Pam Ward and Christy Winters-Scott calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn fell behind early and could never recover in a 78-48 loss to No. 8/5 LSU in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
›› McKenna Eddings led Auburn with a career-high 15 points, knocking down three 3-pointers. JaMya Mingo-Young and Sydney Shaw added eight points each.
›› LSU opened the game on a 21-0 run and led 27-5 after one quarter as Auburn made just one of 17 shot attempts in the opening 10 minutes. The Tigers kept things closer in the second quarter but still trailed 43-19 at the half. Auburn outscored LSU in the fourth quarter 17-9.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give Auburn its 21st win of the season.
›› Be the 998th win in program history.
›› Be Auburn's second win over a Pac-12 opponent this season.
›› Advance Auburn to the NCAA First Round.
›› Be Auburn's first win in the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed.
›› Improve Auburn to 4-2 in games played in Storrs and 5-3 in games played in the state of Connecticut.
AUBURN IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
›› Auburn is making its 22nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament, its first since 2019.
›› The Tigers are 30-21 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Auburn has advanced to three Final Fours, finishing as national runner-up each time (1988, 1989, 1990).
›› Auburn's last time advancing to the regional round came in 1996, when the Tigers defeated Hawaii and Colorado in the first two rounds to advance to the West Regional in Seattle. The Tigers then defeated Penn State before falling to Stanford in the regional final.
›› Auburn's last appearance in the NCAA Tournament came in 2019, when the Tigers were a No. 10 seed in the Chicago Region. Auburn went to Stanford, Calif., for the first round, falling to No. 7 seed BYU 73-64.
AUBURN VS. ARIZONA
›› This will be the second meeting between Auburn and Arizona. The teams previously met Dec. 19, 2000, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Auburn won 69-66.
›› In that game, Lori Nero led Auburn with 20 points and 8 rebounds, and Tasha Hamilton added 17 points.
AUBURN IN CONNECTICUT
›› Auburn is 4-3 in the state of Connecticut with five of those previous seven games coming in Storrs.
›› The last three games in the Nutmeg State have been in the NCAA Tournament. Auburn fell to UConn on their home floor in the 1994 Sweet 16. The Tigers then traveled to Bridgeport for the 2004 First and Second Rounds, defeating NC State before falling to UConn in the second round.
›› The trip to Bridgeport in 2004, Auburn's last visit to the state, was significant in two ways. Auburn's game against NC State was the first NCAA Tournament game for current Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris, at that time in her first season as an assistant coach for the Wolfpack. Two days later, the Tigers' loss to UConn was the final game for Hall-of-Fame Auburn coach Joe Ciampi.
SCOUTING ARIZONA
›› Arizona is making its 11th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024 and fourth straight under head coach Adia Barnes. The Wildcats were the NCAA Runner-Up in 2021.
›› Arizona went 17-15 overall and 8-10 in Pac-12 play.
›› The Wildcats rank 7th nationally in steals per game with 11.6; that number leads the Pac-12. They also lead the conference in turnover margin (+4.9) and turnovers forced per game (19.7).
›› Guard Helena Pueyo leads the Pac-12 in steals per game (3.2) and is 10th nationally in that category. She is also 16th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.6).
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 20-11 overall and finished 8-8 in SEC play.
›› The Tigers have five total road wins this season, the most since winning 10 times on the road in 2018-19.
›› Auburn has five top-50 wins this year, defeating NET No. 8 LSU, No. 29 Washington State, No. 32 Alabama, No. 41 Texas A&M and No. 47 Mississippi State.
›› The Tigers are 17-1 this season when shooting at least 40% from the field.
›› First-team All-SEC selection Honesty Scott-Grayson scored 15+ points in 15 of 16 SEC games this season and 20+ points 10 times overall, including a stretch of five straight games. She scored a career-high 32 points on Senior Night in a win over Mississippi State. Previously, she matched a then-career high with 31 points vs. No. 1 South Carolina on Feb. 1. She followed that up with a 27-point performance at Arkansas, then a 24-point night at Missouri. She was named SEC Player of the Week after a 21-point performance in the win over LSU, then matched that output with 21 in the win over Georgia. She leads the team with 17.4 points/game and also averages 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. She averaged 20.4 points/game in SEC play (2nd in SEC), and has scored in double figures in 26 games this year.
›› JaMya Mingo-Young leads Auburn with 4.0 assists/game, and she is second on the team with 8.9 points/game. She is fifth in the SEC and 36th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.2). She is also third in the league in free-throw percentage (84.4%) and made 29 consecutive free throws from the UAB game Dec. 3 until finally missing at Texas A&M Jan. 7. Mingo-Young equaled a season-high with 16 points at LSU, scoring all 16 in the second half in a return to her home state. She also had 16 points against Clemson, hitting 9-of-11 free throw attempts, then matched her scoring output with 16 against Norfolk State and tied an Auburn record going 12-for-12 at the free-throw line. She made the highlight-reel play of the season to clinch the win over LSU, stealing the ball from Angel Reese and drawing a foul with 10 seconds to play and Auburn leading by 2, then sinking both free throws to secure the win.
›› Senior Taylen Collins scored a season-best 19 points and had 11 rebounds in the win over Kentucky for her third double-double of the year. Collins had a huge second half to spark the comeback win over UL-Lafayette on Nov. 9 with all nine of her points and 8 of 14 rebounds coming after halftime, and she had a then-season high 17 points vs. Alabama State. She recorded her first Auburn double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. Alabama A&M, then got her first in SEC play with 12 points and 11 rebounds at Arkansas. She averages 8.0 points and a team-leading 6.4 rebounds.
›› Junior Mar'Shaun Bostic had the one of the best all-around games of her career in the regular-season finale at Florida, scoring a season-best 18 points and dishing out a career-high 9 assists. She scored a then-season high 17 points on 7-11 shooting vs. Tennessee. She then had another big game agains Clemson with 7 points, 4 assists and a career-high 5 steals.
›› Sophomore Sydney Shaw scored a career-high 17 points at UCF and has hit double-figures in seven games. Shaw also led the Tigers with 15 points in the Alabama A&M win and scored 11 against Clemson. Shaw knocked down two key 3-pointers in the second half to help the Tigers pull away from Texas A&M; she shared the team lead with 10 points. She is fourth on the team with 6.3 points/game.
›› Sophomore Kaitlyn Duhon started the season off with a bang, scoring 13 points along with 3 rebounds and 2 steals in the opener vs. JSU. She showed off her speed against Clemson, especially late in the first half, as she scored 10 points with 3 rebounds and 3 steals. She swiped a career-high 5 steals in just 10 minutes of action vs. Alabama State, and she has started 10 games.
›› Freshman Savannah Scott has seen a resurgence since moving back into the starting lineup vs. Alabama. For the season, she averages 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds, and she was SEC Freshman of the Week the opening week of the season after a double-double at Rutgers.
›› Junior college transfer McKenna Eddings had a huge game in the win over Mississippi State, scoring 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and pulling down a career-high five rebounds, then followed that up with an 11-point, 5-rebound, 4-steal performance at Florida, then led the Tigers with 15 points in the SEC Tournament game vs. LSU. She averages 4.7 points off the bench and has made 24 3-pointers this year, third-most on the team.
UP NEXT
›› With a win, Auburn would advance to the NCAA First Round and face No. 6 seed Syracuse. Game time would be 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday, March 23, in Storrs.
Let the Madness begin: Auburn faces Arizona in First Four
