Both Bruce Pearl and many of Auburn’s players remember the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament vividly.

However, those memories aren’t the fond kind that they’ll cherish or often talk about amongst themselves.

Four-seed Auburn lost to 13-seed Yale, a game that became one of the tournament’s most viral moments and put a crushing end to an Auburn season that already had a Southeastern Conference tournament title to its name.

Fast forward a year, and the Tigers have even more expectations, holding the No. 1 overall seed. That puts Auburn against Alabama State in the first round, a team that earned a thrilling win over St. Francis (PA) in the First Four, its first ever NCAA tournament win.

“Very happy for Tony [Madlock] and the job he and his staff have done taking that Alabama State program,” Pearl said when speaking to reporters Wednesday. “Of course, they’re only 45 minutes down the road, so we are very familiar with them.”

Auburn played Alabama State last season, a game the Tigers won by 20, but as Pearl put it, got outplayed in the second half.

With the experience of Yale last season, Pearl and his players know what an upset win would mean for Alabama State. Having played the Hornets, they know Alabama State can challenge them, even if the resistance last time just came for a half.

Pearl even said he talked about the Yale loss with the team Wednesday morning, adding that “anybody can have that one shining moment.”

“Yale outplayed us. We shot 50% in the game. Typically, that’s good enough to win,” Pearl said. “We fouled them too much. We turned the ball over late, crucial moments, and we didn’t make free throws at the end. And as a result, we lost the game.”

Johni Broome and Denver Jones, two seniors who were part of last season’s early exit, said the Yale loss doesn’t get brought up much anymore. Jones added, though, that seeing their name pop up in Auburn’s region during the selection show brought some of the memories back.

“If we’re able to play Yale, we want to play Yale, to get our get-back,” Jones said. “But I think we’re focusing on taking it one game at a time.”

That first game will be the in-state matchup with Alabama State in Round 1. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:50 p.m. Thursday and will be televised on CBS.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m