Here is our preview of Auburn basketball as they begin conference play at home Thursday night against the Georgia Bulldogs at 6 p.m. CT in Auburn Arena.
After a 10-2 start to the season, Auburn basketball will open up SEC conference play at home Thursday night in Auburn Arena against the 8-4 Georgia Bulldogs.
Georgia finished the out-of-conference slate on a bad note losing to Oakland 86-79. Their other three losses are very respectable losing to Clemson, Marquette and Kansas.
Their only out-of-conference win against a power five school came against Georgia Tech.
Still, ESPN’s Daily RPI rankings has Georgia at 39, which is ahead of Auburn at 44, so this would be a huge win for the Tigers to start the SEC schedule.
Last year Georgia was 20-14 overall and 10-8 in conference play. They made it to the NIT and won their first round game before losing to St. Mary’s.
These two teams split a pair of games last year with Georgia winning at home and losing at Auburn.
They came into this season with a lot of hype, but didn’t win any of their big out-of-conference games.
Georgia has two main scorers on the team in junior forward Yante Maten who averages 19.8 points per game, and senior guard J.J. Frazier who averages 15.1 points per game.
Maten also leads the team in rebounds averaging 8.3 a game and blocks with 21, while Frazier leads the team in assists with 52 and steals with 19.
Those are the only two players for Georgia who average over 30 minute per game.
In Georgia’s win over Auburn last year Maten had 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Frazier led the game with 16 points, 4 assists and 5 steals.
In Auburn’s win over Georgia last year Maten was held to just 10 points and 8 rebounds, but Frazier went bananas scoring 29 points and dishing out 6 assists.
This is certainly a two-headed monster for Georgia, and it will be imperative for the Auburn defense to slow them down.
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Maten has fouled out twice this year, while Frazier has fouled out once. Hopefully the Tigers can get them in foul trouble early so they can’t get into a rhythm.
On the season Georgia is scoring just 73.4 points per game, but they’re giving up just 67.4 points a game. In their four losses they’ve given up an average of 78.5 points, so I think it’s imperative that Auburn hit around that number.
Auburn is averaging 80.1 points per game, but giving up 72 a game.
The Bulldogs will definitely try and slow down the pace for Auburn and make it a low scoring game. The key will be whether or not Auburn can get rebounds on defense and then push it up the floor.
Georgia typically out rebounds their opponents, especially with Maten down low. Austin Wiley and Horace Spencer will need to try and keep Maten out of the lane to allow Danjel Puriofy and Mustapha Heron to come in and scoop up the boards.
Coming off Freshman of the Week honors, we’ll see how Jared Harper does in his first conference game. Hopefully he continues to take over and get to the bucket when Auburn needs a basket.
Next: Jared Harper Freshman of the Week Honors is Sign of Things to Come
Purifoy has been cold lately, but I think he will play well in this game and help lead Auburn to their first SEC win of the season.
Prediction: Auburn – 77 Georgia – 71