Lean Towards Tennessee (+950) To Win The SEC
Tennessee gets the chance to earn its third top 10 and second top five win of the season Saturday afternoon when they welcome No. 3 Auburn to Thompson-Boling Arena.
A pair of streaks are on the line Saturday and one must give. Bruce Pearl and Auburn have won six straight games over Tennessee while the Vols are riding a 15-game winning streak at Thompson-Boling Arena.
“I don’t think there’s any question that we think that we have one of the great home court environments in all of college basketball,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said Friday. “We’ve talked about it; I think our fan base is second to none. You put that with a group of guys that I think that our fan base really enjoys, and I think they appreciate the work ethic. I think they’ve appreciated how they’ve worked to try to get better.”
Auburn is having one of the best seasons in program history, climbing to No. 1 in the AP poll in January and ranking in the top five ever sense.
The third-ranked Tigers enter the matchup 25-3 (13-2 SEC) and can all but lock up the SEC regular season title with a win in Knoxville.
Bruce Pearl’s eighth Auburn team is led by one of the nation’s best backcourts, Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler. Smith will be a top five pick in this summer’s NBA Draft and averages 16.2 points and 6.2 rebound per game.
North Carolina transfer Walker Kessler has turned himself into one of the nation’s best defenders averaging 8.3 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game.
“It is a great combination to have when you think about the length and skill level they bring,” Barnes said. “The fact is that they both really understand what they need to do to be successful together. They both affect the game in different ways. Certainly, you can talk about Walker’s shot-blocking ability but offensively he does a lot of things. Jabari is another guy whose versatility creates problems. When you have two guys like that it makes for a good team.”
Barnes also discussed the status of John Fulkerson, the Tennessee/Auburn series and more.
Tip-off from Thompson-Boling Arena is set for 4 p.m. ET Saturday. ESPN will broadcast the game.
