Auburn topped Creighton by outrebounding the Blue Jays, 37-27, and by outscoring Creighton's bench, 31-10. Tahaad Pettiford scored a majority of Auburn's bench points with 23 while Chad Baker-Mazara led all starters with 17 points.

Coach: Bruce Pearl, who’s 242-112 in 11 seasons at Auburn. He has a career record of 704-267 (.725 win percentage), with previous stops at Tennessee (six seasons), Milwaukee (four seasons) and Southern Indiana (nine seasons). Rankings: No. 4 in the AP Top 25, No. 4 in the coaches’ poll, No. 2 in NET Best win: vs. Houston (74-69, on Nov. 9)

The Tigers defeated Creighton 82-70 setting up a matchup against the No. 5 seed Michigan Wolverines in Atlanta, Georgia.

Vickers led Norfolk State to consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships and NCAA tournament appearances during the past three seasons. He replaces Johnnie Harris, who was fired a day after Auburn lost to Florida 60-50 in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.