Bruce Pearl spent year after year building the basketball program for the Tennessee Volunteers. He got himself into trouble and eventually got fired, but now, he's back in the SEC with the Auburn Tigers and would love nothing more than to spoil his old team's start to the conference season on Saturday.
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HOW THE TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Robert Hubbs III came off of the bench against Gonzaga and East Tennessee State, but he played 30 minutes in the second of those two games and clearly is ready to get back into the starting lineup. He's the best offensive threat outside of Kevin Punter for the Vols, and having him back in the starting lineup is a big step in the right direction.
Punter averages over 22 points per game, but he really can't be forced to score that much in a game like this to be able to cover. In fact, if Punter is over 20 points per game in the SEC, we sincerely doubt Tennessee is going to have a winning record in conference play.
There's also a real concern here on the glass. Auburn isn't the best rebounding team on the face of the earth, but Cinmeon Bowers averages just shy of a double-double per game, and he has to be at least remotely contained.
HOW THE AUBURN TIGERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Auburn isn't going to be afraid to keep up with the place of Tennessee, but it can't let this game get out of hand unless Kareem Canty is going to have one of the best games of his career.
Canty is a volume shooter, but he's a very talented point guard who can go on huge spurts all by himself.
Pearl has always given his guards carte blanche to fire threes whenever the opportunity presents itself, and these Tigers take that literally. Auburn averages just under 10 threes made per game, and we think that's a good number to try to shoot at here against the Volunteers. We know that Bowers is going to be able to play with his back to the basket, and dribbling and driving should be alright as well knowing that Rick Barnes really has no choice but to try to put his thin team in a position to avoid foul trouble.
Hitting some threes could cause the defenders to tighten up on the perimeter, and that in and of itself should really have the Volunteers on the back foot in the half court.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
Tennessee is the better offensive of these two teams, and it's the more talented club, but going on the road is going to be tough in SEC play. The Tigers are deeper for sure, and that could play into their hands in a game which is sure to be played at a very quick pace.
There are going to be a lot of momentum swings in this game, and generally speaking, the home team tends to have the advantage in college hoops in games which the big "Mo" is the biggest factor.
Expect to see Canty have a nice night to help lead the Tigers. Meanwhile, we aren't so sure that Punter is going to be willing to get the ball out of his hands often enough to win a game on the road in conference play. We're willing to lay the points with Auburn at home.
Auburn 78, Tennessee 72
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