Mizzou faces Auburn in SEC 2nd round

No. 12 seed Missouri (15-16, 6-13) vs. No. 5 seed Auburn (22-9, 11-7)

Southeastern Conference Tourney Second Round, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee; Thursday, 2:30 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Missouri and Auburn are set to do battle in the second round of the SEC tournament. The only meeting between the teams this season came on Jan. 30, when the Tigers outshot Missouri 47.8 percent to 37.5 percent and made nine more 3-pointers en route to a 34-point victory.

SENIOR STUDS: Auburn has relied heavily on its seniors this year. Jared Harper, Chuma Okeke, Bryce Brown and Samir Doughty have combined to account for 62 percent of the team's scoring this year and 68 percent of all Tigers points over the last five games.

CREATING OFFENSE: Jordan Geist has made or assisted on 43 percent of all Missouri field goals over the last three games. Geist has accounted for 21 field goals and 11 assists in those games.

PERFECT WHEN: Missouri is a perfect 12-0 when it holds an opponent to 63 points or fewer. The Tigers are 3-16 when opponents score more than 63.

PASSING FOR POINTS: Auburn has recently converted baskets via assists more often than Missouri. Auburn has 40 assists on 74 field goals (54.1 percent) across its past three outings while Missouri has assists on 33 of 74 field goals (44.6 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The Auburn defense has forced opponents into turnovers on an impressive 25.4 percent of all possessions, which is the highest rate in the country. The Missouri offense has turned the ball over on 21.3 percent of its possessions (ranked 317th among Division I teams).