The Arizona Wildcats and the Auburn Tigers will meet on Friday night in Neville Arena for a non-conference showdown. This will already be Arizona’s second high major contest after suffering a nine point loss to UCLA on opening night. That loss exposed some of the Wildcats flaws and I do not see them fixing them quick enough to cover the spread in a hostile environment like Auburn. Auburn has yet to play a high major opponent but they beat a potential tournament caliber team Appalachian State in their last contest. The Tigers missed the tournament last season in Steven Pearl’s first season, but expect them to start the year with a massive win to start year two.
The spread is just 2.5 points in favor of Arizona and I like Auburn to cover that on their home floor in front of their home crowd. The Tigers have been very impressive defensively through two games and that could bother the Wildcats offense that has struggled making outside shots. Arizona was one of the best teams in the country from behind the three point line last season but they are shooting just 27.5% from deep this season. That mark ranks just #274 nationally, which could hold them back from being an elite team like last year. According to KenPom, Auburn’s defense is ranked #8 nationally in effective field goal percentage and #36 in three-point percentage, so I see Auburn’s defense being good enough to cover the 2.5-point spread on Friday night.
*Auburn +2.5 available at time of publishing. Playable at Money Line*
