Auburn Tigers at South Florida Bulls
Wednesday, 12/15/10, 9:00 PM EDT
Opening Point Spread: South Florida -12
Current Betting Line: South Florida -12
Opening Total: 119
Current Total: 118
Auburn will be playing its first true road game of the season in Tampa Bay tonight and will be meeting South Florida for the fifth time in school history. The Tigers have won all four of the previous meetings, but the two programs haven’t faced each other in 31 years. The team is playing the back end of two straight against Big East opponents, suffering a 63-54 defeat in the DirecTV SEC-Big East Invitational in Pittsburgh. Many conference experts have applauded the squad’s effort and hustle for 40 minutes in games, but expect the team to struggle against strengthened competition. “The issues we are having is believing that you’re supposed to win the game,” said coach Tony Barbee. “It doesn’t mean that you are going to win them all, but you have to believe.” Auburn is 18-9 ATS as an underdog the past three seasons and comes in as a large underdog on the college basketball lines page.
The Tigers are an extremely young basketball team and possesses just one senior on the entire roster. Frustrated by early losses this season, Barbee moved into a new direction with the starting lineup, injecting even more youth and energy into the rotation. With Frankie Sullivan and Ty Armstrong out with injuries, only 12 percent of the club’s scoring returns from last year’s 15-17 team. Auburn has done relatively well on the boards during the early part of the year, holding a plus-5.0 rebounding margin, but was out-boarded 46-33 against Rutgers last time out.
South Florida hopes to get back on track tonight after suffering two-straight losses on the road to Florida Atlantic and Kent State. The Bulls certainly possess the ability in beating almost anyone in the country and displayed this in a 60-59 overtime victory against VCU on December 1. “No turning back,” said center Jarrid Famous. “We came off a rocky start. Now we’ve just got to keep going, keep the train moving.” The team should be eager in returning to the Sun Dome for a couple of games due to its 4-1 record at home. South Florida is connecting on 44.9 percent of its field goals in Tampa compared to just 36.10 on the road. The team is 4-4 ATS on the season and 39-30 ATS over the last three years.
The Bulls have been using a team effort early in the season with seven players averaging at least 19 minutes per game. Through nine games, six players have been the high scorer for the club and five have been the top rebounder, making South Florida a tough team to prepare for. To put this in perspective, Dominque Jones was the leading scorer in 23 games last year. South Florida has tied or out-rebounded nine of its opponents this season, with FAU being the only team to best them on the boards, which will be an important category in tonight’s matchup.
Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Tigers are 4-9 ATS in non-conference games, while the Bulls are 1-4-1 ATS as a home favorite.
The college basketball handicappers at Maddux Sports are starting to dial it up and can’t wait for you to join them all season long!
