#1 Auburn vs Missouri NCAAB | Auburn Plays First-Ever Game

For the first time in school history, Auburn is the No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 and the Tigers take the court on Tuesday where they look to avoid an upset in SEC play at Missouri. Auburn is a sizable favorite on the NCAAB odds.

How to Bet Auburn at Missouri NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Tuesday, 8:30 PM ET
Where: Mizzou Arena
TV: SEC Network
Stream: ESPN app
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Auburn -14 (total 145.5)

Last Meeting

This is the only scheduled meeting of the season between Auburn and Missouri. Last season, they also played just once and Auburn won 88-82 at home when it was unranked and Missouri was No. 12. Sharife Cooper had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead Auburn. He’s now in the NBA. While Missouri led by as many as seven in the second half, Auburn battled back and took the lead for good with 7:34 left on a floater from Cooper. Missouri was led by Jeremiah Tilmon and Dru Smith, who scored 42 of the team’s 82 points.

Why Bet on Auburn?

Auburn (18-1) climbed past Gonzaga to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll released Monday. The Tigers beat Kentucky over the weekend for their 15th consecutive win, then scooped up 45 of 61 first-place votes to become the nation’s top-ranked team for the first time since the poll began with the 1948-49 season.

The Tigers spent most of the 1999-2000 season ranked in the top 10, including one week at No. 2. They also spent a week at No. 2 late in the 1988-99 campaign and another week at No. 2 in February 1959. But never No. 1 until now.

“I think for us, it’s the sum of our parts,” said Bruce Pearl, who led the Tigers to the Final Four in 2019. “If we’re playing nine guys on a regular basis, or sometimes 10, you’ve got to account for all of them. And I thought [against Kentucky] we got really great contributions, you know, from everybody.”

Auburn is the eighth SEC school to achieve a No. 1 national ranking all-time. The Tigers are off to their fourth-best start in program history and only the second 7-0 SEC start next to the 1958-59 season. They are also the winningest SEC men’s basketball program (112 victories) over the last five years.

The Tigers knocked off Kentucky 80-71 on Saturday. Walker Kessler scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. K.D. Johnson scored 17 points and had four rebounds. Jabari Smith added 14 points and tied Kessler with a team-high seven boards. Wendell Green Jr. added 11 points, all in the second half, and led the Tigers with five assists.

Auburn outscored Kentucky 16-7 in the first six minutes of the second half, turning a four-point halftime deficit into a 45-40 lead. The Tigers scored 51 second-half points after compiling only 29 in the first half.

Why Bet on Missouri?

Missouri (8-10) lost 86-76 at Alabama on Saturday. Jarron Coleman led Mizzou (8-10, 2-4 SEC) with a team-high 17 points, one off his season-best. Coleman shot 6-of-12 from the field, including a season-high five three-pointers. He also added four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Mizzou had a total of four players in double-digits, as Javon Pickett, DaJuan Gordon and Amari Davis all contributed 12.

Missouri made a season-high 11 three-pointers as Coleman, Gordon and Ronnie DeGray III all registered at least two. Coleman’s five three-pointers tie for the second-most ever by a Missouri Tiger in an SEC game. Coleman is shooting 40.3 percent in SEC games, including 39.5 percent from behind the arc.

Missouri shot 47.7% from the field, more than five percentage points better than its average. The Tigers hit 47.8% of their 3-point attempts, significantly better than their 25.7% season average that has them ranked No. 349^th in the country.

The Tigers have recorded multiple blocks in their past nine games, led by freshman Trevon Brazile. He has 26 blocks through 10 games, averaging 2.6 per game and has led Mizzou in blocks in every game he has played.

Saturday was Missouri’s first loss of the season when scoring 70 or more points. The Tigers remain 6-1 when scoring over 70. Missouri shot above 40 percent from three for the second-straight game, ending with a team effort of 11-of-24. The Tigers were 7-of-13 in the second half. The team’s five free throw attempts were a season low, and the fewest attempted by Mizzou since Feb. 9, 2019 against Texas A&M. Mizzou’s strength of schedule ranks 13th in the nation according to ESPN’s BPI.

“I’m happy with our guys’ effort, toughness and grit,” said coach Cuonzo Martin. “We’ve improved offensively, but we got to find a way to buckle down defensively and get those stops.”