Auburn basketball dominated Alabama State 83-63 to start its NCAA tournament campaign as the No. 1 overall seed.

The Tigers now meet Creighton on Saturday, after the Blue Jays defeated Louisville 89-75 in its opening round game.

“We didn’t play our best, but I think they (Alabama State) had a lot to do with it. I give them a great deal of credit… But trust me, we can play — and we need to play — a lot better,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said postgame.

Here’s an overview of the Blue Jays season and how they got here:

The season so far

Creighton finished the regular season second in the Big East with a 25-10 overall record, earning them the No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Blue Jays ended the year with a 15-5 conference record, despite falling to St. John’s in the conference tournament championship.

Creighton ranked 34th in the NCAA’s NET rankings after ending the season 6-6 in Quad I games. Coach Greg McDermott’s group won their fifth consecutive March Madness opener and beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the second time this season.

Now seeking its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years, Creighton will be faced with is biggest challenge yet.

Players to watch

Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points with 12 rebounds in the Blue Jays victory over the Cardinals. Steven Ashworth added 22 points as Creighton shot 57% from the floor in Thursday’s contest.

Ryan Kalkbrenner has been the anchor of this Creighton squad averaging 19.4 points and 8.8 rebounds this year. Kalkbrenner finished with 14 points and six rebounds against Louisville.

Ashworth is Creighton’s second-leading scorer averaging 16.3 points. He also averages a team-high 6.8 assists. Neal averages 11.5 points, finishing as the Blue Jays leading scorer Thursday.

Keys to the game

Create turnover opportunities

Creighton ranked 17th in the country this season averaging 17.1 assists per game. However, Louisville forced a game high 10 turnovers on the Blue Jays Thursday.

Auburn forced 10 turnovers on Alabama State in its first-round victory, scoring 15 points off of them. Applying pressure on the Blue Jays early will help create the fast break opportunities the Tigers like to run.

Key battle in the Frontcourt

AP SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome will be matched up against Ryan Kalkbrenner, making for a frontcourt matchup of the ages.

Kalkbrenner is shooting 65.5% from the floor leading the Blue Jays in that category. Broome finished with his 19th double-double in the Tigers 20-point opening round victory.

“No, we won’t beat Creighton playing the way we played tonight,” Pearl said postgame. “We can play better. We know we can tighten things up. But that’s the thing about the tournament, we will absolutely get to the next game.”

Auburn will play Creighton Saturday for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 round in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3 or email him at [email protected].