Auburn basketball will begin the year on the road against the Georgia Bulldogs in their first SEC matchup of the season away from the Neville Arena. The first was a nail-biting non-spread cover win over Florida, but this could be a tougher challenge.
Mike White has Georgia playing humming thus far in 2022-23, a far cry from the days of Tom Crean mismanaging the program in its final years with the former Marquette and Indiana coaching great. Thus far, the Bulldogs have dropped just three games, the worst being to Georgia Tech. No one can knock being downed by UAB or Wake Forest at this point in the season.
As for AU, they hit a decrescendo in December through their nine-point loss to Memphis, their close call with Georgia State, and their razor-thin loss to USC. The Florida win changed quite a bit of the perception, though, especially seeing the frontcourt duo of Jaylin Williams and (especially) Johni Broome thrive. AU will have a major advantage over Georgia in that department.
Will it be enough to cover the spread convincingly? Or will UGA put up a fight as they have tended to do under their first-year Gators-poached head coach? Fly War Eagle has your odds and a prediction for the SEC Network-televised matchup (All lines courtesy of WynnBET Sportsbook):
Georgia vs. Auburn basketball Odds, Spread and Total
Spread:
Auburn: -7.5 (-110)
Georgia: +7.5 (-110)
Moneyline:
Auburn: -340
Georgia: +265
Total: 136.5 (Over -110/Under -110)
Georgia vs. Auburn Prediction
The Tigers will likely be without Chance Westry and the lack of the creative scoring combo guard robs AU of a lot of the playmaking Bruce Pearl envisioned having this season. K.D. Johnson’s inefficiency has been hurting the team, and Zep Jasper is similarly struggling to support Wendell Green Jr. in their absence.
All of these issues make covering a three-possession spread a difficult prospect. This could be a low-scoring affair in Athens, though Auburn should still get the win overall.
Prediction: 136.5u (-110)
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.