Just five days removed from winning the SEC Tournament championship on March 17, the Auburn Tigers men’s basketball team returns to action Friday afternoon to take on the Yale Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

When Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl met with the media Tuesday, it was clear he and the Tigers had moved on quickly from the championship win.

“If you notice, I didn’t mention anything about Sunday,” Pearl said. “And I’m not gonna talk about it much.”

Instead, he and his coaching staff have been zeroed in on getting Auburn ready to take on Yale.

“This coaching staff, this is a really good team, a really good program, and they’ve got a really good history of first-round upsets,” Pearl said of Yale Tuesday. “Why is that? Because they play the right way, because they play hard, they play physically, they’re from the Ivy League so they’re smart.”

Auburn knows it can’t be complacent against Yale, which comes into the matchup with a 22-9 record and recent a Ivy League Tournament title.

Follow along for live updates from Friday afternoon’s action in Spokane, which will tip off at approximately 3:30 p.m. CT.

Pregame

AUBURN’S STARTERS

Guard — Aden Holloway

Guard — Denver Jones

Forward — Chad Baker-Mazara

Forward — Jaylin Williams

Center — Johni Broome