IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa received a #8 seed in the 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and will face #9 seed Auburn in Alabama on Thursday.
Iowa (19-13) received a No. 8 seed (seeded No. 32 overall) and will play ninth-seeded Auburn (20-12) on Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama, in the Midwest Region. Game time and television information will be released tonight. Thursday will be the first meeting all-time between the Hawkeyes and Tigers.
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl served as an assistant coach at Iowa from 1986-92 and Iowa assistant coach Matt Gatens served on Pearl’s staff at Auburn from 2017-19.
The other two teams in Iowa’s first-weekend bracket are top-seeded Houston (31-3) and No. 16 seed Northern Kentucky (22-12).
Information on pre-tournament news conferences and open practice times will be released on Monday.
TICKET INFORMATION
The Iowa Athletics Ticket Office receives a limited number of tickets and will not have any general public ticket sales through our office. Fans are encouraged to visit ncaatickets.com for ticket availability.
IOWA INFORMATION
Iowa has qualified for seven of the last nine NCAA tournaments (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023); the 2021 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Hawkeyes are one of 10 teams nationally to make the last four NCAA Tournaments, and one of three Big Ten teams (Purdue, Michigan State).
This year marks the third time Iowa will be a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament; the other previous times were 1985 and 1997.
Thursday will be Iowa’s first visit to the state of Alabama in program history.
Iowa won eight games over NCAA Tournament teams this season: Indiana (twice), Illinois, Iowa State, Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern and Southeast Missouri State.
The Hawkeyes have finished fifth place or better in the Big Ten regular season standings seven of the last nine years.
