The current No. 1 team in the nation, Auburn, hosts the formerly top-ranked and current No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers at Neville Arena on Saturday night at 8:30pm ET on ESPN.
The Tigers are 17-1 overall, 5-0 in the SEC, and have won 10 straight since the team’s lone loss at Duke in early December. Coach Bruce Pearl's squad is flawless at home, posting an 8-0 record.
Tennessee is in its first minor rut of the season. After starting 14-0, the Volunteers were flattened at Florida, 73-43, and have since lost at Vanderbilt as well. Coach Rick Barnes’ team is 17-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.
The Tigers have surged to the No. 1 ranking thanks to an explosive offense averaging nearly 86 points a contest. They have yet to be threatened at home, winning all eight games at Neville Arena by at least 16 points. In fact, the team is winning by an average of 32 points at home, including two SEC victories over Missouri (84-68) and Mississippi State (88-66), who are both 15-4.
In comes sixth-ranked Tennessee for its only matchup with the Tigers in the regular season. The Volunteers shot out to a 14-0 record before getting slammed at Florida, 73-43. The team recently lost by one point at Vanderbilt as well.
The X-factor here is All-American candidate Johni Broome, Auburn’s leading scorer and rebounder. He injured his ankle early in a 66-63 victory over South Carolina two weeks ago. He has since missed victories over Mississippi State and a 70-68 escape at Georgia.
Tashaad Pettiford has stepped up in Broome’s absence. Averaging 12 points on the season. Pettiford is averaging 17 points in the Tigers’ past three contests, leading the team with 15 against the Gamecocks and 24 in the win over Georgia.
Miles Kelly (10.6 ppg), Chad Baker-Mazara (13.1 ppg), and Chaney Johnson (10 ppg) have also helped fill the void as well. Broome is a game-time decision.
Tennessee counters with Chaz Lanier, who leads the team with 18.4 points per game and scored 23 in its most recent outing, a 68-56 win over Mississippi State. Zakai Zeigler had nine points and seven assists in that game and leads the Volunteers with 7.6 assists, to go with 12.2 points per game.
Auburn has won seven of its last 10 games against Tennessee, and hasn’t lost to the Volunteers at home in several seasons. The Tigers are 6-2 against the spread at home and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games with Tennessee, which is 2-3 ATS away this season.
Look for Auburn, with or without Broome, to hold court at home and cover the 5.5-point spread as favorites. The Tigers are 16-0 straight up as favorites while the Volunteers are 1-1 as underdogs.
Tennessee has only played to the over seven times in 19 games this season, including just four of the last 15 games. Auburn, meanwhile, has done so 10 times in 18 games, and 4-of-8 games at home.
But this particular contest consistently goes to the over. The teams have done just that in 10 of the last 12 meetings. Auburn is ninth in the country in scoring at 85.7 points per game and, at 19.6 points, has the third best scoring differential in the country. Tennessee is averaging 76.8 points. Even if the Volunteers were held to that differential, it would still get the total over 141.
Tennessee is not looking to lose another road game, and certainly doesn’t want to get embarrassed like it did in Gainesville. The Volunteers will come out firing and push Auburn to score more as well.
Look for these two teams to total more than 141 points tonight.
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Tennessee | +210 ML |
Auburn | -260 ML |
Spread | Auburn -5.5 |
Total Points | O/U 141.0 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.