A one-of-a-kind challenge awaits Auburn in the NIT's second round

Seattle U has won 21 games and boasts one of the very best defenses in the country. Here's what Auburn is up against Sunday.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

AUBURN — Nothing is going to feel “normal” for Auburn basketball in this one.

Playing a home game in late March is already strange. Auburn’s recent standard has been making it to the NCAA Tournament, where you’re playing on college basketball’s biggest stage in neutral-site venues. That’s not the case in the NIT.

Then you throw in the fact that this game is going to be on a Sunday evening, which is one of the rarest time slots for a game involving the Tigers. Auburn will be coming off of four full days of rest, and that doesn’t happen often this time of the year.

And then there’s the opponent itself: Seattle U, a first-time foe for Auburn. The Redhawks didn’t rejoin Division I until 2009, following a nearly 30-year absence.

But Seattle U has a proud history in basketball, having gone to the NCAA Tournament 11 times. This is the Redhawks’ first NIT appearance since 1957. A year later, they went all the way to the NCAA Tournament national championship game, where they lost to Kentucky. That Seattle U team was led by future Lakers legend Elgin Baylor.

While Seattle U hasn’t gone back to the Dance since returning to Division I, Chris Victor has built a new level of success. He’s coached the Redhawks to 20-plus wins in four of the last five seasons, something that hasn’t been done since Baylor was on campus. They’ve had a top-100 defense on KenPom each season.

This season, Seattle U jumped from the WAC to the WCC — a return to a conference that sent Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara to the NCAA Tournament. Seattle U won’t be intimidated by having to face Auburn on the road: It’s already played six Quad 1 games, unlike South Alabama.

(It also played a Division III team, the University of Puget Sound Loggers. Just wanted to get that in there.)

With that jump in competition, the Redhawks put together their best defense yet, one that currently ranks No. 19 in the country on KenPom.

“This team finished tied for fourth in that league,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said Friday. “They’ve beaten Stanford, they’ve beaten Washington, they’ve beaten Washington State, Oregon State. … They had Gonzaga beat at Gonzaga earlier this year. Lost to Saint Mary's by two.

“So, they're a really good team, and they're very capable. Our guys are going to have to show up and be excited about playing — because if we don't, this is a team that is capable, defensively, of making you look bad.”

It’s a true “styles make fights” kind of game between Auburn and Seattle, with the winner getting to face Nevada for a trip to Indianapolis for the NIT semifinals.