Top-ranked Auburn and No. 5 Kentucky each open the week with what could be challenging road games, while LSU-Texas A&M and No. 19 Tennessee at Mississippi State games are not contests to be overlooked on the Southeastern Conference schedule.
Auburn (+140) has the second-best odds to reach the Final Four while Kentucky (+160) is tied with Purdue for the No. 3 spot.
Kentucky’s Oscar Tschibwe (+400) is tied with Kofi Cockburn of Illinois for the best odds to win the national player of the year award. Auburn’s Jabari Smith (+2400) is another SEC player to keep an eye upon.
Game of the Week
Auburn Tigers at Arkansas Razorbacks
Date, time, TV: Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Arkansas has won the last two meetings against Auburn and 12 of the last 16, although the Razorbacks won’t be favored to continue that trend even though they will be playing at home against No. 1 Auburn on Tuesday night.
It hasn’t always been pretty but Auburn hasn’t lost since ascending to the top of the national polls. The Tigers are just 2-2 against the spread as the No. 1 team, including failing to cover as a 16-point road favorite in a two-point win over Georgia.
Seven of Auburn’s last 10 games have finished over the total.
Arkansas (18-5, 7-3) has the second-longest active winning streak among SEC teams at eight games but it is well back of Auburn’s 19-game streak. The Razorbacks have only failed to cover once during those eight games.
Arkansas is 13-1 at home but Auburn is the lone SEC team yet to lose a road game.
Auburn and Arkansas rank second and fourth in the SEC in points per game. The Razorbacks lead the conference in foul shots made and attempted while the Tigers hit two more 3-pointers per game than Arkansas.
Here is a team-by-team breakdown of what is next for the rest of the teams in the SEC with some trends and other pertinent information for those who bet online.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Alabama hits the road to play Ole Miss on Wednesday. The Crimson Tide have won the last four games in the series as well as four of the last six. They have covered in each of those six wins. Alabama is just 1-5 on the road.
Alabama (14-9, 4-6) has lost two straight games. Of course, one was against No. 1 Auburn on the road and the other to No. 5 Kentucky. The Crimson Tide won four of their previous five games and despite being 1-8 against the spread in their last nine SEC games, they are still a dangerous team.
Alabama is second in the SEC with an average of 9.0 made 3-pointers per game.
Florida Gators
Florida is looking to beat Georgia for the fifth straight time when the teams play on Wednesday night. Three of those four wins have been by eight points or less.
Florida (15-8, 5-5) has won its last three games but only covered against the college basketball spreads in one of those contests.
Four of the Gators’ last six games have gone under the total.
Ten of Florida’s wins have come at home.
Florida welcomed back Colin Castleton in Saturday’s overtime win against Ole Miss. He had 17 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots in his first game since Jan. 15.
.@Castleton_ is reallllly back.#GoGators | #GatorsHoop pic.twitter.com/ceffhwKxM7
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 5, 2022
Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia nearly pulled off the upset that would have been heard around the SEC and the nation before falling to No. 1 Auburn. Now the Bulldogs look to win at Florida for the first time since 2019.
Six of the last nine games between Georgia and Florida have gone under the total.
Georgia (6-17, 1-9) has lost its last three games and two of those contests went over the total as the Bulldogs allowed 85 points to Vanderbilt and 99 to Arkansas. The Bulldogs are one of two SEC teams yet to win a road game.
The Bulldogs had 10 steals in the loss to Auburn.
Kentucky Wildcats
It wasn’t too long ago that Kentucky was winning 10 of 11 games in the series against South Carolina, although the teams have split the last four games with the home team winning each time.
Kentucky’s last two wins in the series have come by an average of 28 points while South Carolina’s wins have been by an average of 5½ points.
Kentucky (18-4, 8-2) takes a four-game winning streak into Tuesday’s game at South Carolina. The last two times the Wildcats won four straight, they lost on the road.
The Wildcats are 14-0 at home and lead the SEC in scoring averaging 81.2 points per game.
Louisiana State Tigers
Louisiana State is looking to beat Texas A&M for the 10th straight time when the teams square off in College Station on Tuesday. The Tigers are 7-2 against the spread in those games.
LSU (16-7, 4-6) has dropped three straight games and six of seven and is in a four-way tie for seventh place in the SEC. The Tigers failed to cover in each in their last five games while each of the last four games has gone over the total.
LSU leads the conference with an average of 11.1 steals per contest.
Ole Miss Rebels
Five of the last six meetings between Ole Miss and Alabama have finished under the total established by the Las Vegas odds.
The Rebels’ last win in the series came at home in 2018, but in the most recent home game, Ole Miss lost by 28 points.
Ole Miss (12-11, 3-7) has covered in its last three games while four of the Rebels’ last five games have gone under the total.
Ole Miss couldn’t build on its effort against LSU when the Rebels shot 52 percent from the field as that number tumbled to 33 percent in the loss to Florida. The good news is that Jerkel Joiner played 40 minutes in his first game in nearly a month.
Mississippi State Bulldogs
While Tennessee has dominated in recent matchups, Mississippi State did win by 13 points the last time the two teams played in Starkville. The Bulldogs have won two of the previous three matchups when playing at home and covered in each of the victories. The good news is that the game is at home since Mississippi State is 0-5 on the road.
Five of the last seven games against Tennessee finished under the total.
Mississippi State (14-8, 5-4) has dropped three of its last four games. Nine of the Bulldogs’ last 11 games went under the total.
Mississippi State forced just 16 turnovers in its last two games.
Missouri Tigers
Missouri travels to meet Vanderbilt on Tuesday having won the last four games in the series and covered in the last five.
Missouri (9-13, 3-6) snapped a four-game losing streak with Saturday’s 70-66 win at Texas A&M as a 9.½-point underdog. Missouri is 6-1 against the spread in its last seven games. Three of the Tigers’ last four games have gone under the total.
Missouri has shot 50 percent or better in each of its last two games.
South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina has won its last two games when Kentucky came to town and covered both when listed by the Las Vegas odds as home underdogs.
Four of the last five games against Kentucky have finished over the total.
South Carolina (13-9, 4-6) has lost its last two games by an average of 19 points. Each of its last three games has gone over the total.
The Gamecocks are third in the SEC with 5.2 blocked shots per game.
Tennessee Volunteers
No. 19 Tennessee travels to Mississippi State looking to beat the Bulldogs for the fifth time in the last six meetings. Tennessee has failed to cover in each of the last two matchups in the series.
Tennessee (16-6, 7-3) has won five of its last six games and covered in four of those contests.
Tennessee is 25 of 53 from 3-point range in its last two contests.
Texas A&M Aggies
Texas A&M has lost nine straight to LSU but did cover as a nine-point underdog on the road when the teams played on Jan. 26.
The Aggies did win five consecutive home games against LSU from 2014-17.
Texas A&M (15-8, 4-6) has lost its last six games but has covered in four of those. Each of its last five games finished under the total.
Opponents have shot 44 percent from 3-point range in the last two games.
Vanderbilt Commodores
While Vanderbilt hasn’t defeated Missouri since 2016, the last three games in the series have been decided by 10 points or less.
Five of the last seven games against Missouri have finished under the total.
Vanderbilt (12-10, 4-6) is showing signs of life with two wins in its last three games while the last loss for the Commodores was a closer than predicted defeat at Kentucky.
Each of Vanderbilt’s last three games finished under the total.
The Commodores had 13 3-pointers in the win against LSU.
