College Hoops Picks: Auburn Tigers at Arkansas Razorbacks

Preview

Auburn (1-3, 11-7) has struggled since conference play began—after seven straight non-conference wins, the Tigers have gone 1-3 against the SEC, losing by 12 at South Carolina, by three to Florida, and by nine at Kentucky, while pulling off a 14 point win against Alabama.

The Razorbacks (0-3, 12-4) have had an eerily similar start to conference play—after going 12-1 in non-conference play and gaining national attention at the turn of the calendar with an eight point upset over Oklahoma and a six point upset over Texas, Arkansas suffered a 14 point defeat at the hands of Mississippi State, a nine point loss to Mississippi, and a fifteen point loss to Florida.

The Achilles heel for both teams has been their free throw shooting—Arkansas is hitting just over 65 percent from the line while Auburn is just under 60 percent. In conference play, the Tigers have hit just 33 of 62 from the charity stripe, and these free throws are the difference of the game in some cases. When they lost by three to Florida, they missed 11 free throws.

Here's how the teams stack up across the board:

Stats

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Auburn	11-7	1-3	9-3	105	73	71.2	62.0
Arkansas	12-4	0-3	5-5	60	118	77.8	69.5

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG
Auburn	43.4	39.5	32.3	32.8	59.5	40.2	10.3	14.2
Arkansas	45.9	41.8	33.9	34.3	65.1	44.3	7.4	14.0

The two teams are pretty even everywhere—they both shoot low-to-mid forties from the floor, allow around 40 percent of shots to go in, hit around one-third of their three point attempts and allow around the same amount to go in. The difference lies in steals and free throws. Auburn picks three extra balls per game, while Arkansas is more accurate from the line.

Prediction

Current Line: Arkansas -4.5

Auburn ATS: 9-3, 4-2 when underdog
Arkansas ATS: 5-5, 2-2 when favored

The Razorbacks have some great wins under their belts but stand 0-3 in SEC conference play—they need this win much more than the Tigers do. Arkansas has a deeper team and the ability to put up huge numbers (something they've been unable to do in SEC play so far...). Arkansas comes ready to play for the home crowd.

Pick: Arkansas -4.5

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CFBPlace.com—and soon to be featured on CBBPlace.com*