Auburn is the home team against Arizona tonight, but the odds have swung in the Wildcats' favor before the two teams clash at the Neville Arena.
The Tigers went from being a -1.5 favorite to a +2.5 underdog. Bettors like Arizona despite an early-season loss to UCLA. Perhaps the fact that Auburn has only played Southeastern Louisiana and Appalachian State has the betting public leaning toward the Wildcats.
Or, perhaps there is awareness of where Arizona has an advantage in this one.
Arizona has major frontcourt advantage over Auburn
Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Motiejus Krivas and 24.7-point-per-game scorer Ivan Kharchenkov should be the biggest challenges for the Tigers' defense. The Wildcats have power in their size in general, sporting eight players who are at least six-foot-seven.
Thus far, we've seen some struggles from French big man Narcisse Ngoy. The Los Angeles Clippers may even be bearish about drafting and stashing Ngoy this past June. Ngoy may have been preserving himself through the first two games against teams that stood no chance, though.
Ngoy and Bukky Oboye, who have flashed the ability to be disruptive, even to the quality of big man Arizona possesses, both need to stay out of foul trouble. That's much easier said than done, considering Kharchenkov alone shoots over 10 free throws per game.
Auburn losing Mantas Rubštavičius hurt betting confidence
Don't forget that the Tigers lost Mantas Rubštavičius to eligibility issues, driving down confidence in Auburn. We don't yet know the extent of what it means to have lost Rubštavičius, given the competition level over two games.
We may get a much clearer picture on Friday night of what losing the Lithuanian means for this roster. At the same time, we may also get an idea of how well Steven Pearl can coach. While a second loss this season would be worrisome for Tommy Lloyd, Pearl can undoubtedly use this win more.
We'll see if the betting public was onto something by abandoning Auburn in droves for Arizona.
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