IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa received an at-large berth to the 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, its 29th appearance in the tournament, including its seventh under head coach Fran McCaffery.

Iowa (19-13) received a No. 8 seed (seeded No. 32 overall) and will play ninth-seeded Auburn (20-12) on Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama, in the Midwest Region. Game time and television information will be released tonight. Thursday will be the first meeting all-time between the Hawkeyes and Tigers.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl served as an assistant coach at Iowa from 1986-92 and Iowa assistant coach Matt Gatens served on Pearl’s staff at Auburn from 2017-19. 

The other two teams in Iowa’s first-weekend bracket are top-seeded Houston (31-3) and No. 16 seed Northern Kentucky (22-12).

Information on pre-tournament news conferences and open practice times will be released on Monday.