Auburn, Tennessee came into Rupp Arena and left Lexington with spots in the Sweet 16

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Tahaad Pettiford (left) and Zakai Zeigler - Imagn Images

The top two seeds in the 2025 NCAA Tournament’s Lexington quadrant have locked up bids in the Sweet 16 — and they both happen to be a pair of Kentucky’s opponents from earlier in the season.

The Auburn Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers beat out the rest of the field at Rupp Arena over the last few days to keep their seasons alive. Out of the South Region, 1-seed Auburn opened things up Thursday with a win over 16-seed Alabama State before taking down 9-seed Creighton on Saturday. Meanwhile, in the Midwest region, 2-seed Tennessee first took down 15-seed Wofford on Thursday and then beat 7-seed UCLA on Saturday.

All in all, it wasn’t exactly an eventful stretch of games at Rupp. Only one of the six games played featured a final score in single digits: Tennessee’s nine-point win over UCLA to close out the weekend. The average margin of victory in Lexington was 15.8 points. March Madness didn’t exactly live up to the hype in these first- and second-round showdowns. As expected, the two SEC programs came out on top.

(1) Auburn’s second-half run ends (9) Creighton’s season

The first time Auburn was in Rupp Arena this season, it ended in a blowout win with a belt-smacking celebration. The postgame festivities were a bit more tame the second time around.

Creighton had the upset bid in hand through 20 minutes of action. Threes were falling for the Bluejays (Steven Ashworth and Jackson McAndrew were a combined 7-9 from deep in the first half) while Auburn shot under 40 percent from the field. For the Tigers to trail by only two points at halftime felt like a miracle.

Johni Broome looked mostly disinterested in this game, and he can thank the 7-foot-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner for tuning him out. Broome finished with eight points (4-13 FG) and 12 rebounds. His teammates had to pick up the slack. Initially, that man was Chad Baker-Mazara, but a knee to the ribcage down the stretch had him dragging his feet up and down the floor (he still dropped in 17 points).

“Chad, you know, obviously he’s a buck seventy-five soaking wet and he has a bony ass,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said postgame. “So when he lands on the ground, bam, it’s wood on bone. So he probably got a pretty good bruise. Hopefully that’s all it is.”

Enter freshman Tahaad Pettiford to save the day.

Pettiford began to carve up Creighton in the second half. Non-stop ball screens had the Bluejays scrambling. He finished with 23 points, six rebounds, and three assists. On the other end, Creighton was running sprints with no finish line in sight. There wasn’t any rhythm to their second-half offense. Auburn shot 60 percent as a team after the break and tightened up the three-point defense. A kill shot by the Tigers midway through the second half finished Creighton for good, 82-70.

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Auburn advances to the Sweet 16 with a date against 5-seed Michigan next Friday in Atlanta. Good for them.

(2) Tennessee mows down (7) UCLA with ease

Would we get a more competitive ending in game two of the day? Not even close, but it was fun to dream for about half an hour. There was far too much orange in Rupp’s blue seats for my liking, too. But as ugly as it looked in the stands, the product on the floor was equally as pretty — for one side, at least.

After a close first half, this one got out of hand quickly. As it turns out, Chaz Lanier will get buckets no matter who is guarding him. And the Volunteers’ defense? Oh boy… UCLA got a taste of what basketball hell looks like in the second half.

The Bruins started off cooking though, jumping out to an early four-point lead. Tyler Bilodeau was everywhere. 7-foot-3 big man Aday Mara was playing some of his best ball of the season. Physicality (or a lack thereof from the Vols) did not seem to bother the UCLA frontcourt. The Bruins even led by one with 3:21 in the first half. Then Tennessee’s third-ranked defense decided it was time for the other team to stop scoring. An 8-0 run to close the half foreshadowed what was to come.

Tennessee stretched its lead to 15 points five minutes into the second half. UCLA began to surrender to its bully’s physicality. UT threes were raining down from the Rupp rafters. When the Vols are shooting 11-22 from deep for a full game, good luck slowing them down. Lanier finished with 20 points. Zakai Zeigler added 15 with Jordan Gainey not far behind at 13. UCLA shot just 37 percent on the night in a 67-58 loss. That’s three straight Sweet 16 trips for Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes.

I did my best to cheer on former Kentucky commit/UCLA starter Skyy Clark, and he gave me some moments of happiness with 18 points, but my smiles were few and far between. Tennessee advances to the Sweet 16 next week in Indianapolis. Could we have a third matchup between the Vols and Kentucky? A Wildcat win Sunday against 6-seed Illinois would set it up. UK won the first two, one at Rupp and the other in Knoxville.