A spot in the SEC tournament championship game is on the line when No. 4 seed Auburn (25-7) meets No. 9 Mississippi State (21-12) in the first of two semifinals at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., at noon Central on Saturday.

The Tigers are here after blowing out No. 5 South Carolina 88-55 in Friday’s quarterfinals. The Bulldogs have sprung a pair of upsets, beating No. 8 LSU 70-60 on Thursday and then shocking top-seeded Tennessee 73-56 on Friday.

Auburn and Mississippi State split their two regular-season meetings. The Bulldogs won 64-58 at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Miss., on Jan. 27, with the Tigers returning the favor 78-63 at Neville Arena in Auburn on March 2.

The Auburn-Mississippi State winner will meet the Florida-Texas A&M winner in Sunday’s championship game. The Tigers are seeking their first SEC tournament title since 2019; the Bulldogs their first since 2009.

Follow along for live updates from Saturday’s game in Nashville:

Pre-game

Starting lineups

Auburn

Aden Holloway, G

Denver Jones, G

Jaylin Williams, F

Johni Broome, F

Chad Baker-Mazara, F

Mississippi State

Dashawn Davis, G

Josh Hubbard, G

D.J. Jeffries, F

Tolu Smith, F

Cameron Matthews, F

First half

16:40 — Shaky start for Auburn. Tigers 1-for-6 shooting with 3 turnovers early. Mississippi State leads 9-2.

14:46 — Auburn trails 9-4 at the first media timeout. State’s Tolu Smith — who already has 4 rebounds — will go to the line for two after a foul by Johni Broome. Bulldogs controlling the action early as they did against Tennessee yesterday.

13:40 — Officials are reviewing to see if there might be a flagrant foul during a held ball situation. State’s Keshawn Murphy appeared to shove Chad Baker-Mazara.

It’s escalated to a dead ball contact technical foul on Murphy. Two foul shots and the ball for Auburn. State leads 12-6.

Baker-Mazara hits both and it’s 12-8. Might be the break Auburn needed.