Georgia vs Auburn Odds, Pick: Back Tigers Early

It's time to take a look at the Georgia Bulldogs vs. Auburn Tigers odds and make a pick in our NCAAB betting guide for Saturday, March 9.

In their regular-season finales, No. 13 Auburn and Georgia will meet at Neville Arena on Saturday night for an SEC showdown.

The Tigers come into the game in a four-way tie for the three remaining spots in the SEC Tournament that earn the double-bye. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have struggled down the stretch, losing nine of their last 11 to sit at 16-14 overall this season.

Auburn is not a fun place to play at as a visiting team, and I think the home squad will be too much in this matchup.

Things have not gone to plan for former Florida coach Mike White since he made the switch to Georgia. The Bulldogs are right around .500 as they come to the end of his second season, which will likely end without postseason play again.

One issue this season has been the fact that White hasn’t found a consistent lineup. Over the last 11 games, the Bulldogs have used seven different starting lineups. That has led Georgia to rank 21st nationally in bench points per game (28.8 PPG). The bench has outscored opponents in 24 of 30 games and supplied a season-long scoring margin of +298.

The two mainstays in the starting lineup have been Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Noah Thomasson. Both average in double figures in scoring, combining for 25 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

Veteran coach Bruce Pearl has built another strong team this season at Auburn. The Tigers have 11 seasons in their history of 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 fifth under Pearl — that Auburn has racked up 11 or more SEC wins in a season.

Outside of stars on the squad, this is also one of Pearl’s deepest teams. The Tigers also boast a great bench that leads the conference and ranks fifth in the country in points per game (34.23 PPG). Auburn’s bench has outscored the opponent’s bench in all but one contest this season, including each of the last 23 games.

Meanwhile, the player Pearl certainly hasn’t featured from the bench has been Johni Broome. The junior big man ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in scoring (16.4 PPG), rebounding (8.5 RPG) and blocks (2.3 BPG).

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Whenever Auburn has played lesser teams this season, the Tigers have won in dominating fashion. I backed them for the full game in the midweek win at Missouri, but I believe this will be more of a faster start here.

My best bet is to take Pearl’s squad to cover the first-half spread at -10 or better.

Only No. 1 Houston (+16.2) has a better average first-half margin this season than Auburn’s +15.1. The Tigers also rank ninth in the country in first-half points per game at 43.5.

In SEC play, Pearl’s team has been winning at home at halftime in every game except for its loss to Kentucky. Auburn has also held a lead of 10 points or more in all but two of those contests, winning by an average of 14.71 points per game.

Meanwhile, the same cannot be said about Georgia. The Bulldogs have been trailing after the opening period in six of eight road trips in conference play, losing by an average of 9.83 points per game.

With the added motivation of needing a win to claim one of the remaining double-byes in the SEC Tournament, Pearl will have his team ready to go from the opening tip in front of the home crowd for the final time this season.

Pick: Auburn 1H -10 or Better