The Auburn Tigers take on the Missouri Tigers in Columbia, Missouri. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Auburn is favored by 2.5 points on the spread with a price of 52 cents to win and the total set at 154.5 points on Fanatics Markets.
Here’s my Auburn vs. Missouri prediction and college basketball picks for January 14, 2026.
Auburn vs Missouri Prediction
My Pick: Missouri ML
My Auburn vs Missouri best bet is on the Tigers to win outright. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Auburn vs. Missouri Odds
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Auburn vs Missouri College Basketball Betting Preview
Auburn Basketball
Auburn played a really tough non-conference schedule and got smacked around by some of the best teams in the sport. The Tigers lost by 28+ to arguably the three best teams in the sport, Michigan, Arizona and Purdue.
Auburn did, however, play better in a close one-point loss to Houston back on November 16 and secured good wins over St. John's and NC State.
First-year head coach Steven Pearl started SEC play 0-2 in brutal fashion, with a 104-100 overtime road loss against Georgia and a 90-88 home loss to Texas A&M, where KeShawn Murphy’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer was waved off.
All that to say, Saturday’s 95-73 win over Arkansas was a much-needed victory and the highlight of the Tigers' season thus far.
They have an elite offensive attack, ranking ninth nationally on KenPom. Keyshawn Hall is one of the best scorers in the country, coming off back-to-back 21-point games. He’s a true three-level scorer and is a matchup problem for every team he faces. He’s averaging 21.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists on 50/45/87 splits.
Auburn’s other star — Tahaad Pettiford — has been a bit up and down this season. Even though he only scored six points in the win over Arkansas, Pearl was thrilled with his performance because of the seven assists to just two turnovers.
Auburn notched 20 assists as a team in the win, and Pearl has put pressure on Pettiford to focus on playmaking more than scoring, as the Tigers don’t really have anybody else with true point guard characteristics.
Auburn had a top-10 defense in three of its last four seasons entering this one. That defensive efficiency is down to 93rd nationally this season and has been a glaring weakness for this team. The Tigers guarded the ball much better against Arkansas, and they’ll look to carry that momentum into Columbia on Wednesday.
The Tigers have been elite at creating second-chance opportunities all season, ranking ninth in the country in offensive rebounding rate. They're also 18th in the country in foul-drawing rate.
Also of note, opponents are shooting 40% from deep against the Tigers through these first games of SEC play.
Missouri Basketball
To accurately evaluate Missouri’s season, context beyond surface-level numbers is needed.
Mizzou is 12-4 on the season, but before the turn of the calendar, the Tigers had only one win against a top-200 team, beating Minnesota by 23 at home on November 12. Against the two NCAA Tournament teams they've faced — Kansas and Illinois — they lost by 20 and 43 points, respectively.
Although Dennis Gates and company are coming off a 76-69 road loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, the Tigers really turned their season around by starting SEC play 2-0 for the first time in school history. They defeated Florida at home and beat Kentucky for the first time ever in Rupp Arena.
The big difference is Mizzou got Jayden Stone and Trent Pierce back in the lineup after the Illinois game, and their shot-making is a total game-changer for this offense. Neither was available for any of Mizzou's losses before Saturday.
Those two, alongside Jacob Crews, who’s shooting a ridiculous 48% from downtown this season, form one of the best shooting trios in the country.
The Tigers ride Mark Mitchell on the inside, and the 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior is a matchup problem for almost every team. He’s so tough to stop around the basket, and his ability to find teammates out of double teams is elite.
He’s averaging 17.4 points per game on 56.7% shooting and is coming off a seven-assist game against Ole Miss.
Junior point guard Anthony Robinson hasn’t fully taken the leap that was expected out of him this season, but he’s still been a menace defensively, averaging 2.2 steals per game, while adding 11.0 points and 4.1 assists per game.
Through these three games of SEC play, Mizzou is first in the league in effective field goal percentage, second in 2-point percentage defense and assist rate, while placing third in defensive efficiency. That defensive number is surprising, as the Tigers' season-long efficiency ranks outside the top 100 nationally.
One of the biggest weaknesses of this team is its dreadful free-throw shooting. The Tigers' 66.3% clip ranks in the bottom 30 nationally.
Auburn vs. Missouri Betting Analysis
This should be a really fun matchup between two talented, evenly matched teams in the upper-middle of the SEC.
The Tigers are 10-0 at home and can exploit some of Auburn's weaknesses. Arkansas had only nine assists in its loss to Auburn and doesn’t have as many elite shooters as Mizzou does.
Murphy and Sebastian Williams-Adams have the size and athleticism to do a decent job on Mitchell, but he’s close to matchup-proof and could easily get them into foul trouble.
I like banking on Mizzou’s half-court offense here with its shooting, depth and home success. While Auburn may have turned a corner against Arkansas, I haven’t seen it play well on both ends on the road yet.
The concerns for me with this play are that Auburn should be able to find success running in transition and beating some of Mizzou’s slower players down the floor.
On top of that is Mizzou’s woeful free-throw shooting, which absolutely sways the outcomes of games. The Tigers shot 12-of-24 from the free-throw line in their seven-point loss to Ole Miss on Saturday.
I’ll take the home team here to find a way to get this done.
My Pick: Missouri ML
