Soon after his Seattle University squad defeated St. Thomas in the opening round of the NIT, Redhawks coach Chris Victor was asked about facing top-seeded Auburn in its next matchup.

At that moment, Victor wasn’t concerned about how his team is one step away from the quarterfinals.

“I haven’t thought about it yet,” Victor said, smiling. “Really, I’m just worried how we’re going to get out there.”

The Redhawks (21-13) will be meeting an 18-16 Auburn team Sunday afternoon minus one of its starters, as Tigers forward KeShawn Murphy, who averaged 10.7 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds, decided against participating in the NIT.

Auburn rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to defeat South Alabama 78-67 in its tourney opener Tuesday, as Kevin Overton and Keyshawn Hall each scored 21 points.

Overton made 7 of 8 3-point attempts after the intermission after going 0 for 5 in the first half.

“The shots were falling in the second half,” said Overton, who added seven rebounds and four assists. “In the first half I was trying to find that rhythm. When you make those simple ones, the other ones become easier.”

Hall leads the Tigers with 19.9 points per game, with Tahaad Pettiford next with 15.4 points and a team-best 3.6 assists.

Seattle beat St. Thomas 67-52 as Brayden Maldonado had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Maldonado leads the Redhawks with 14.4 points per game, with Will Heimbrodt averaging 12.3 points and a team-high 5.3 rebounds.

“We’ve shown that we can beat some really good teams,” said Heimbrodt, who added 13 points and five rebounds in Tuesday’s victory. “We had an ACC win (against Stanford) and a Big Ten win (against Washington). So going into Auburn … it’s going really fun.

“They’re a great team, but I think we can hang in there with anyone.”

It won’t be easy, as the Tigers have won 65 consecutive nonconference games at home dating to the 2016-17 season. That’s the longest current streak in the nation.

But the Redhawks boast the No. 23 scoring defense in the country this season, giving up fewer than 67 points per game.

“One of the better defensive teams we’ll have gone against all year,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “Incredibly active, they really fly around and make what you do really difficult.”

–Field Level Media

Second-seeded Purdue may not necessarily be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of No. 7 seed Miami ahead of the teams’ meeting in West Region second-round play on Sunday in St. Louis.

But the Boilermakers certainly know what to expect from the Hurricanes’ top two scorers, having played them last season when they were in the Big Ten.

Malik Reneau, a 6-foot-9 senior who averaged 13.1 points and grabbed 5.6 rebounds in his third season at Indiana, transferred home to Miami and has enjoyed his best season. Reneau, who scored a game-high 24 points Friday night in the Hurricanes’ 80-66 elimination of Missouri, averages 19.0 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Then there’s 6-2 combo guard Tre Donaldson, who tallied 11.3 points per game a season ago for Michigan. This season, Donaldson supplies career-high averages in points (16.5) and assists (5.8) for the Canes. He comes off a 22-point effort Friday night, including multiple clutch 3-pointers down the stretch.

“It definitely helps,” said Purdue point guard Braden Smith of their familiarity with Reneau and Donaldson. “You gotta be ready to just bounce back quickly.”

Both teams are dealing with a quick turnaround after winning first-round games Friday night. It will be a bit quicker for Miami, which got off the floor at 11:28 p.m. local time after quieting a large Tigers crowd in Enterprise Center.

The Hurricanes (26-8) have defied expectations all season, though. First-year coach Jai Lucas inherited a bare cupboard, but he recruited a blend of veterans and freshmen that have played with poise and set a school record for wins by a new coach.

Friday night might have been its most impressive exhibition of poise. Missouri led 54-52 with less than eight minutes left when Lucas called a timeout. One 11-0 run later – highlighted by five straight points from Reneau and four from freshman Shelton Henderson — Miami was ahead for good.

“Just stay the course and continue to just keep pushing and pushing,” Donaldson said. “Don’t change nothing. Attack it the same way we have been all year.”

While the Hurricanes might be playing with house money, the Boilermakers (28-8) have been playing with high expectations for years. The 2024 national finalists were picked No. 1 in multiple preseason national polls. After a late-season lull knocked them down to the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they’ve found that championship form.

Purdue won four games in four days to win the conference tourney and carried that standard of play into Friday night’s 104-71 rout of Queens in the first round. Smith scored 26 points and dished out eight assists to break Bobby Hurley’s 33-year old NCAA mark for most assists in a career. Smith goes into Sunday’s game with 1,083 helpers in four seasons.

Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said Friday’s performance was another display of Smith’s judgment in terms of hunting his shot versus feeding his teammates.

“We let his instincts take over and if they’re going to play deeper, he has to look for his pullup,” Painter said. “It just depends on what we’re running, the angles we’re running … he took the shots that were there.”

The winner advances to a Thursday night semifinal against either third-seeded Gonzaga or 11th-seeded Texas.

–Bucky Dent, Field Level Media

Vladimir Tarasenko scored the winning goal 3:06 into overtime to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon in Saint Paul, Minn.

Bobby Brink also scored for Minnesota (40-19-12, 92 points), which won in overtime for the second time in its past three games. Brink also picked up an assist on the winning goal.

Jason Robertson scored the lone goal for Dallas (43-15-11, 97 points), which holds a five-point lead over the Wild for second place in the Central Division. Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene assisted on Robertson’s tally.

Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 28 of 29 shots to collect the victory. He made nine saves in the first period, nine saves in the second and 10 saves in the third.

Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger allowed two goals on 28 shots.

Tarasenko pumped his fist after scoring the decisive goal. It was his fourth goal in his past four games and 20th of the season.

The winning play developed slowly for Minnesota. Brink had the puck along the side boards as Tarasenko waited patiently near the right circle. The Stars’ defenders drifted toward the puck and neglected Tarasenko, who eventually received a pass from Brink and fired a snap shot that zipped past Oettinger.

Dallas opened the scoring on the power play with 5:39 to go in the first period. Robertson fired a shot through traffic for his 38th goal of the season.

The play put Robertson atop the Stars’ goal-scoring list. He entered the game tied with teammate Wyatt Johnston with 37 apiece.

Minnesota made it 1-1 with 9:15 remaining in the second period. Quinn Hughes zipped a long pass to Brink, who got behind the defense for a mini-breakaway and finished with a backhand.

The play gave the ex-Philadelphia Flyer two goals in five games since joining the Wild.

Dallas finished 1-for-5 on the power play. Minnesota went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

–Field Level Media