Auburn vs Missouri Odds, Pick: Heavy Victory for Tigers

A battle of tigers will take place on Tuesday night in the SEC when Missouri hosts No. 13 Auburn.

The visitors (11-5 in conference) have dropped out of the race for the SEC regular-season crown. Meanwhile, Missouri only has two more chances to pick up a conference win in what has been a disappointing campaign.

March is a month known for upsets and shocking losses, but I’m not sure this is the spot for one to happen here.

Veteran coach Bruce Pearl has built another strong team at Auburn. The Tigers have 11 seasons in their history with at least 22 wins and five of those have come during Pearl’s tenure.

This is also just the 19th time in program history — and the fifth under Pearl — that Auburn has racked up 11 or more SEC wins in a season.

This is also one of Pearl’s deepest teams. In fact, the Tigers lead the conference and rank fifth in the country in bench points per game (34.21 PPG).

Auburn’s bench has outscored its opponent’s bench in all but one contest this season, including in each of the past 22 games.

Of course, this team is led by Johni Broome, who ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in scoring (16.3 PPG), rebounding (8.6 RPG) and blocks (2.3 BPG).

After a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year, coach Dennis Gates hoped to carry that momentum into this campaign. However, things haven't gone according to plan.

If the Tigers can’t find a league win in these final two games, it will mark Missouri's first time going winless in conference play since it did so in the Missouri Valley Conference in the 1907-08 season.

Amongst the struggles, Missouri does have two of the most improved players in the SEC. Sean East II has increased his scoring by 9.9 points per game this season, the most in the league, while Tamar Bates has seen his scoring improve by 7.5 PPG.

The accolades don’t end there for East. He is just 27 points and 14 assists away from becoming the third player in school history to rack up 500 points and 125 assists in a single season.

As much as I’d love for Missouri to finally get a win, I just don't see it happening here.

So, my best bet is for Auburn to cover the 13-point spread at DraftKings, which I would play up to 14.5. I also don’t hate a look at the visitors ATS in the first half, or as a moneyline parlay piece.

This season, Pearl’s team loves to cover these big numbers. In fact, all 22 of Auburn’s victories have been by double digits.

Originally, the program was known for just playing well at home. However, Pearl’s squad has shown it can also perform on the road.

In SEC action, Auburn covered this same spread in wins at Georgia (97-76), Ole Miss (91-77), Vanderbilt (80-65) and Arkansas (83-51). And that doesn’t include six additional home victories in conference play by 13 points or more.

Meanwhile, it has been profitable fading Missouri at home. Gates’ squad has only covered the spread in one of eight league games at Mizzou Arena.

This is also the same team that lost by 24 to Mississippi State, 19 to Texas A&M and 13 to Florida all at home.

Auburn is better than all three of those squads, so I believe this could be another heavy victory for the road Tigers.

Pick: Auburn -13 (Play to -14.5)

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