Thursday night college basketball and we will see the Auburn Tigers travel to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to take on the LSU Tigers. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Current Vegas betting odds have LSU listed as 11.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 143.5.
Analysis: The Auburn Tigers come in struggling as they have lost their last 4 games in a row. The recent slide now has Auburn at 10-11 on the year overall, which includes an 0-7 mark on the road and a 2-6 mark in the SEC. Auburn has gone 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a S.U. loss and 8-0 ATS in the last 8 meetings in Louisiana State, but just 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games following an ATS win. Auburn has not been a good offensive team this year, ranking 198th in scoring (66.7 ppg), 288th in shooting (40.8%), 230th in 3 point shooting (32.9%) and 304th in FT shooting (65.1%). Defensively the Tigers have not been so good as well as they come in ranked 215th in points allowed (67.8 ppg), 280th in defensive FG% (44.9%) and 82nd in 3 point defense (31.7%).
The LSU Tigers come in off a tough 73-67 loss at Mississippi State, but still they have had a very nice year so far, going 16-5 overall, 5-3 in the SEC and 10-1 at home. LSU has gone 6-0-1 ATS in their last 7 games following a S.U. loss and 23-8 ATS in their last 31 Thursday games, but the favorite is just 1-5 ATS the last 6 in the series. LSU have been a very good offensive squad this year, ranking 39th in scoring (74.5 ppg), 81st in shooting (45.5%), 216th in 3 point shooting (33.2%) and 100th in FT shooting (70.0%). The defense for this team has not been all that good, ranking 206th in points allowed (67.5 ppg), 60th in defensive FG% (39.8%) and 85th in 3 point defense (31.8%).
Pick: I will look to the Under in this game. The Auburn Tigers have had plenty of troubles scoring on the road this year where they have averaged just 55.6 ppg so far, including just 56.3 ppg in their 4 SEC road games. LSU is not a great defensive team, but teams only shoot 39.2 % overall and 30.1% from long range vs them at home. Auburn shoots just 35.3% overall and 30.4% from long rang on the road. LSU has averaged 77.4 ppg at home for the year, but in their 3 SEC home games (Regulation Only) they have averaged just 65 ppg and Auburn has not been terrible on defense this year allowing 67.9 ppg on the road. LSU may reach 70 points, but still Auburn should be held in the lower 60s here. 72-61 sounds about right for this one.
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