Auburn Basketball at Tennessee Preview and Predictions

Here we go again. Auburn (9-13, 3-7) travels to Tennessee (11-12, 4-6) where they hope to get their first conference road win and end their five-game skid. Auburn will face the Volunteers for the second time this season after winning the first matchup on national TV in the first SEC game of the season.

In the first matchup between these two teams Auburn had the advantage of a pretty good home crowd who were rooting for Bruce Pearl to get his first win over his former team. Auburn also had the advantage of Tennessee going completely cold offensively. In the first meeting, Tennessee couldn’t buy a shot, which gave Auburn the slight edge they needed to get the win (and get the lead in the SEC standings).

Fast forward to today and both teams have had similar SEC records including both teams knocking off Kentucky at home. Tennessee holds a slight advantage with four wins in conference compared to Auburn’s three. For Tennessee, since losing to Auburn, they now have three of their four wins against the top teams in the SEC. Tennessee has taken down Florida, South Carolina, and Kentucky since the last time these two teams met.

Last time I mentioned the showdown between Kevin Punter and Kareem Canty. At the time, the two were some of the best scorers in the SEC and both still are, except for a small problem. Kareem Canty was recently suspended by Bruce Pearl and is still suspended for the Tennessee game. Kevin Punter on the other hand has continued to play well with 23-plus points in six of his last seven games, including a season-high of 36 points in the win over South Carolina.

Against Auburn, Punter will most likely continue to lead the way and I don’t see Auburn’s defense finding a way to dramatically slow him down. He scored 31 points on the Tigers in the first meeting and he might just get even more this time around. Punter is able to score from every aspect on offense, so Auburn will have to use Bryce Brown, New Williams, and a handful of other players to make sure things are difficult for him to get his points.

Another player that should give Auburn a matchup problem is senior forward Armani Moore. Moore is a smaller forward at just 6-foot-4 and has lately been playing more as a point guard for the Volunteers. This will provide a nice matchup for Cinmeon Bowers, who is also a forward now playing point guard for Auburn.

In the first meeting Auburn was able to hold Moore to just 1 point, but I expect Moore to come back looking to prove that he can perform against Auburn. Moore has taken a back seat to the success of Punter for the most part this season, but he’s still one of the more talented players for Tennessee and in the SEC. Bowers and Auburn’s other big men will have a challenge defending against this versatile forward who plays more like a guard.

Without Kareem Canty, Auburn will be relying on Cinmeon Bowers to run the point guard role along with the help from New Williams, Bryce Brown, and Patrick Keim. Bowers did a pretty good job in his first start at point guard against Georgia, but most of his success came when running the fast break, as most would expect. Bowers needs to continue to play smart on the fast break (he only turned the ball over once against Georgia), but he should also look to get the ball to Williams or other guards that are more capable of running the half court offense.

New Williams wasn’t able to touch the stat sheet as much against Georgia, but I thought he showed a good ability to run the offense and keep things moving. Hopefully he’ll be able to setup more direct baskets against Tennessee or even start scoring more on his own.

There is no doubt that Kareem Canty was Auburn’s go-to scorer in most situations, and with him out Bryce Brown or someone else will have to consistently step up to try and replace the points that Canty was responsible for.

Bowers did a pretty good job of attacking the basket, but with his low field goal percentage inside and no real outside threat, he won’t be able to replace Canty, no matter how well he plays. This is where Bryce Brown will have to step up. Brown is one of the only other players on the team that can create his own shot like Canty can, but he’ll also need to get that shot to start falling for Auburn to have a chance. Brown only hit two of his 10 three-pointers against Georgia on the way to just 9 points, most of which came later in the game.

Despite the loss, I liked the way Auburn looked against Georgia, especially for a first game with Bowers at the point and playing without their best player. While Canty was Auburn’s best player, he wasn’t the greatest teammate in terms of keeping the ball moving on offense. Auburn will certainly want him to come back sooner rather than later, but I believe Auburn has the potential to start playing improved team basketball in his absence.

I also believe that Auburn will be able to get a win with Cinmeon Bowers at the point guard position, and Tennessee might be their best bet. If Auburn can play as well on the defensive end as they did against Georgia, and keep Punter, Moore, and others under moderate control, the Tigers might be able to get this done.

Tennessee is still the easy pick in this game since Auburn will need to get a good performance from many key players to stand a chance. However, Auburn played one of the most motivated games last season when on the road at Tennessee, and I think Bruce Pearl will have what players are left ready to play for a win over his former team in a building where he amassed a good bit of wins.

With baseball season right around the corner and Auburn basketball continuing to struggle with injuries and other personnel issues, Auburn fans are starting to dwindle in support of the Tigers on the basketball court. While I can’t give a lot of reasons to keep watching this Auburn team, I do think they’ll still be able to get a win or two the rest of the way, and any win at this point will be a pretty big accomplishment considering this team’s circumstances.

In order to help slightly keep your interest, I’m going to actually go against most people and pick Auburn to win this game. It won’t be pretty and I still am not extremely confident in this pick, but I think Auburn – led by Cinmeon Bowers at point guard – is able to pick up a 75-73 win on the road against the Volunteers.