Auburn Should Continue Dominance Against Mississippi State

Mississippi State vs. Auburn, 7:00 ET

We were able to take home a win last night on the hardwood, so let's head back there for another game. This night is FILLED with great games, and I always love when we get these conference games in the middle of the week. Don't get me wrong, I like football, but my favorite thing about basketball is that the games are more frequent. Baseball has too many games, and football is spread out a bit, with college hoops we get great games twice a week now that teams face their conferences. Let's place a bet on the game between Mississippi State and Auburn. 

Mississippi State comes into this game as the 15th ranked team in the country and is 14-2 for the season. They are also 2-1 in conference play, coming off of their first loss in their last game. In that contest they dropped the game to #6 Kentucky 95-90. It was a home game for Mississippi State and they still dropped it, which gives me a bit of concern for tonight's game now that they have to face another really talented team. Their other loss came against Butler on a neutral court. They dropped that one 87-77. Although the team is primarily paced by guard Josh Hubbard, who is averaging 17 points per game, they have five guys averaging nine points or more per game. They also have another that is averaging 7.3 points per game, giving them a rather deep rotation, and plenty of scoring options to go along with a primary player in Hubbard. They aren't a great three-point shooting team, which can cause problems, but they are consistent which helps us in betting them so we don't have to run into a hot or cold night from their shooters. They kind of are what they are - going to hit about one of every three deep balls. 

Jan 11, 2025; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs forward Cameron Matthews (4) drives with the ball against the Kentucky Wildcats during the second half at Humphrey Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

Auburn, currently the top-ranked team in the country, is 15-1 and is 3-0 in conference play. That doesn't mean they have been dominating everyone though. Their past two games have been very close, barely beating South Carolina on the road by just three points, and escaping the Longhorns in Texas with a five-point victory. The only loss that Auburn has had this season was against Duke and that was a road game. They lost that game by just six point. The team is led by Johni Broome who is averaging 17.9 points and leads the team in scoring virtually every night. He actually leads the team in assists, blocks, and rebounds as well, so he does basically everything for them. The other four leading scorers for Auburn are all guards, and all of them are shooting over 36% from deep for the season. I mentioned how deep Mississippi State is, but Auburn might be deeper with six players scoring over 10 points per game. Outside of that, they do have a bit of a drop off. Part of their success is how involved their main players are in the scoring, and how consistent they are. 

Both teams are strong scoring squads, and I think both will be offensively oriented in this one. I'm not really sure I want to be an over that would require them to score roughly 75 points each. A lot of these conference games can be tighter contests. I'm going to back Auburn here as I think they get back on track of blowing teams out at home. They haven't had many tough true home games, but all of them have been won by a big margin. Back Auburn -7.5.

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024