Auburn
Tigers at Baylor Bears Betting Preview
The surging
Auburn Tigers will take to the road for a Saturday NCAA
basketball matchup with the No. 2 Baylor Bears. While the
Bears have found themselves in the top five in the nation for the entire
season, Auburn is just now putting it together behind fantastic freshman point
guard Sharife Cooper.
Cooper, a
five-star freshman out of Georgia, has almost single-handedly made the Tigers a
threat in the SEC.
Cooper will
face his toughest test yet in Baylor, though, as the Bears are the top-ranked
defense in the nation, according to Ken Pomeroy’s ranking system.
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Look for
the spread to be roughly 16 points in favor of the Bears at home, with a total
of around 150 points. The game is scheduled for a 4 pm ET tip on Saturday
afternoon.
Before we
move on, we absolutely crushed our last pick here at Top Rank Sports Picks! We
hit an underdog moneyline and the total on our Rams
at Seahawks betting pick for their Wild Card
matchup.
A look at
the Auburn Tigers
Auburn was
not a team that many took very seriously heading into the season as it was
assumed that Cooper would not be playing. Bruce Pearl’s group started the
season 6-4 straight up but a fairly horrendous 3-7-1 against the spread. On the
season, the Tigers are 3-3 against the spread in true road games.
Since
Cooper’s arrival, the only time the Tigers failed to cover the spread was in
his first game against rival Alabama, and they only came up short by a half of
a point.
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Since then,
the Tigers are 5-0 ATS and hit the over in three of those five games. Cooper
has seemingly clicked with fellow freshman JT Thor, who has scored double-digit
points in five of his last six games.
Auburn has
won four of its last five games, with the only loss coming at the hands of a
very good Arkansas team. The Tigers should only get better in the coming weeks
as Justin Powell (11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 44% on three-pointers) returns
from a concussion. It is unknown whether or not he will return for this game.
We have you
covered if you missed any NFL action last weekend. Check out NFL
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A look at
the Baylor Bears
The Bears
are, simply put, one of the best two teams in the nation. At this point, there
is little (if any) evidence that would support another theory.
They
currently rank first in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric and
third in adjusted offensive efficiency, making them arguably the most
well-rounded team in the nation.
Baylor is
led by All-American candidate Jared Butler, a 6-3 point guard who is averaging
just over 17 points and five assists per game while shooting a blistering 49.4%
from behind the three-point line.
While
Butler is very clearly the star, he has one of the best supporting casts in the
nation in MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell and Adam Flagler. Of the three, the
worst perimeter shooter is Teague at 35.4%, and no one would recommend leaving
him alone on the perimeter.
Forward
Mark Vital offers a junkyard dog presence and is widely regarded as one of the
best defenders in the Big 12.
The Bears
are a brilliant 11-3 against the spread on the season with an average margin of
victory of over 24 points. They are outperforming the spread by 5.3 points per
game.
That margin
shrinks to just 1.8 points per game at home, but their margin of victory is
over 29 points per game while playing in the Ferrell Center.
The Pick
It is
difficult not to fall in love with Cooper right now, but Auburn has not faced a
team anywhere near the level of the team that is waiting for them in Waco.
I would
take Baylor giving up to 15.5 points, but any higher, and the Tigers should
have enough scoring ability to hang around.
Take the
under.