Missouri vs Auburn Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/4/25

The Missouri Tigers and the Auburn Tigers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Auburn Arena. Here’s a Missouri vs Auburn prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Missouri vs Auburn pick. We will examine:

The Missouri Tigers’ recent form and player performance

The Auburn Tigers’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Missouri Tigers

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Auburn Tigers

Recent betting trends in games played between Missouri and Auburn

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Missouri vs Auburn game

Missouri Tigers Betting Preview

Missouri opened the season with a loss to Memphis 83-75 but quickly regained their footing for a lengthy win streak. From November 8 to December 17, the Tigers rolled right past Howard, Eastern Washington, Mississippi Valley State, Pacific, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Lindenwood, California, Kansas, Long Island U, and Jacksonville State. Following a three-point loss to Illinois on December 22, the Tigers came back for an 82-65 win over Alabama State.

In the Alabama State matchup back on Monday, Missouri came out of the gate for an encouraging 42-24 start. The Tigers kept the pace from there on 40 second-half points and ended up with a pretty sizable win 82-65. Leading the team in the win was Tamar Bates with his 16 points, six rebounds, and two assists. Mark Mitchell added 14 points with four rebounds, and both Trent Pierce (eight rebounds; two assists) and Tony Perkins (five rebounds; three assists) contributed 12 points apiece. Marques Warrick added seven bench points as well.

Auburn Tigers Betting Preview

Over on the Auburn side, they got off to a very nice start themselves with a string of wins right from the beginning. The Tigers rattled off victories versus Vermont, Houston, Kent State, North Alabama, Iowa State, North Carolina, and Memphis to kick off the year, then took a six-point loss to Duke on December 4. Since then it’s been five more wins, however, as the Tigers have dispatched Richmond, Ohio State, Georgia State, Purdue, and Monmouth in succession.

Matched up against Monmouth on Monday, Auburn got right down to business with a 46-28 halftime lead. The Tigers didn’t let up in the second half, rattling off a 41-30 advantage for a blowout victory 87-58 in the end. Leading the team in scoring with a double-double was Johni Broome with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists. Dylan Cardwell also doubled up with 12 points and 11 boards, while Chad Baker-Mazara had 13 points, three rebounds, and four assists for his troubles. Tops off the bench was Chaney Johnson with 12 points and two rebounds with two assists and a steal as well.

Why the Auburn Tigers will win

• Missouri has lost each of its last 20 games against Conference opponents.
• Auburn has won each of its last 11 day games at Neville Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Missouri has lost the first half in six of its last seven day games against the Southeastern Conference.

Why the Missouri Tigers will win

• Missouri has won three of its last four day games.

Missouri vs Auburn Prediction

I’m likely just going to stay with Auburn. This should be a pretty good matchup regardless though, and one of the highlights of the weekend college basketball slate. Auburn didn’t have any trouble with a struggling Monmouth team in their last outing, dispatching the Hawks thanks to 43.9 percent shooting and a dominant 46-27 rebounding advantage. Auburn held Monmouth to just 36.5 percent shooting from the floor on the other side.

Auburn is scoring very well this year. They’ve hit 74 or more points in every game so far, and 87 or more in five straight (all wins). The Tigers have been able to win four of their five matchups versus ranked teams so far.

As for Missouri, they blew right past Alabama State in their latest game. The Tigers shot a nice 50 percent from the field with a 38-32 rebounding edge and 16 points off 12 Alabama State turnovers. That makes 75 or more points in every game so far this season, so we could have a pretty hefty total here. In the end, I like Auburn to eke out the cover, though. It’ll be a fun one to watch.