SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's basketball team is the fifth seed in the East Region and will face the 12-seed University of Alabama-Birmingham in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA announced Sunday afternoon.
The Aztecs will meet the Blazers, who won the American Athletic Conference Tournament title on Friday, March 22, Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Wash. Game time and broadcast channel will be confirmed later this evening.
This is SDSU's 19th overall NCAA Tournament appearance, 16th at the Division I level, 11th in the last 15 years, and fifth in the seven seasons since head coach Brian Dutcher took over the reins of the program (the Aztecs were 30-2 in 2019-20 but the NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic).
The Aztecs are the 5-seed for the second time in program history after reaching the National Championship game last year on that seed line and will play in the East Region for the first time in program history.
UAB (23-11) earned the American Athletic Conference's automatic bid for the NCAA tournament by beating Temple, 85-69, on Sunday. The Blazers have won their last five games on the way to the conference tournament title.
The winner of No. 5 San Diego State and No. 12 UAB will square off in the second round against the winner of No. 4 Auburn (27-7) and No. 13 Yale (22-9) on Sunday, March 24.
The Aztecs and Blazers have met once before with UAB winning, 91-46, on Dec. 23, 1989 in the championship game of the UAB Classic.
Men’s Hoops Face UAB in NCAA First Round
