South Florida Bulls at Auburn Tigers
Wednesday, 12/14/11, 9:30 PM EST, TV: ESPN3
Opening Point Spread: Auburn -2.5
Current Betting Line: Auburn -3
Opening Total: 124
Current Total: 122
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
South Florida heads back on the road to take on the Auburn Tigers and comes off an 83-59 win over the Florida A&M Rattlers. The Bulls are 1-4 all-time against the Tigers, but tallied a 61-49 win as 12-point home favorites a year ago. It’s an important result due to the program returning 77 percent of its scoring and 67.8 percent of its rebounding from a year ago. Overall, the Bulls return eight players who have seen action in 443 career games. South Florida is 0-2 ATS as an underdog this year, but those misses came on the road against Kansas and VCU.
The Bulls have three players that average double figures in the starting lineup, with Toarlyn Fitzpatrick coming off a sensational game in scoring a career-high 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting. He’s averaging 11.8 points and 8.0 rebounds over the past five games. Depth has been a big part of this team’s success early on during the 2011-12 campaign, as it’s the only Big East Conference school that has six players averaging over 25 minutes per game.
Auburn has played only five games this year and has five players averaging double figures in scoring, with junior guard Frankie Sullivan leading he way with 12.8 points per game. Tigers head coach Tony Barbee will look to even up his record against South Florida, matching up with Stan Heath, who is 8-3 when facing Auburn. From a handicapping standpoint, the team has had a season-long 11 days off due to final exams and will not play six games in 12 days. Auburn is 0-2 ATS as a home favorite of three points or less.
The Tigers haven’t played much of a schedule, but they are second among all SEC teams in shooting 47.9 percent from the field, while also sitting second in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.2). Barbee certainly knows that his team is going to have its hands full with Wednesday night’s opponent inside Auburn Arena. “They bring back some guys who played last year,” he stated in practice this week. “It gives us a test.” Auburn may receive a boost from junior Noel Johnson off the bench, becoming eligible to play in this contest for the first time all year after transferring from Clemson. He played in seven games with that program a year ago and averaged 2.9 points and 1.6 rebounds in 13.1 minutes.
Bettors will likely back the Bulls due to their 37-18 ATS mark following a win, while the Tigers are 0-4 ATS as a home favorite.
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