Kentucky Wildcats vs Auburn Tigers Prediction, 1/22/2022 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Kentucky Wildcats vs Auburn Tigers

Date: Saturday, January 22, 2022

Location: Auburn Arena in Auburn, AL

TV: CBS

Auburn Arena is the site where the Auburn Tigers (17-1) will take on the Kentucky Wildcats (15-3) on Saturday.

The Kentucky Wildcats stepped onto the hardwood against Texas A&M and took home the win by a score of 64-58 in their last game. Concerning personal fouls, the Wildcats walked away with 15 and Texas A&M finished the game with 18 personal fouls. They converted 1 of their 22 attempts from beyond the perimeter. Texas A&M ended up going 38.5% when shooting free throws by burying 5 of their 13 shots. In addition, Texas A&M had 38 boards (14 offensive, 24 defensive), but didn't notch a block. Texas A&M dished out 15 dimes and had 11 steals for the contest. When discussing defense, Kentucky allowed their opponent to shoot 39.4% from the field on 26 of 66 shooting. They also dished out 13 assists in this matchup as well as forcing 12 turnovers and earning 8 steals. In terms of rebounding, they earned a total of 38 with 13 of them being offensive. From the free throw line, the Wildcats buried 18 of their 26 tries for a rate of 69.2%. Kentucky ended the contest with a 36.2% field goal percentage (21 of 58) and converted 4 of their 18 shots from beyond the perimeter.

Oscar Tshiebwe is a player who had an impact in the matchup. He ended up shooting 40.0% from the floor and dished out 1 assist. He saw the court for 32 mins and also totaled 14 boards. He ended up walking away with 8 points on 2 out of 5 shooting.

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Kentucky will enter this matchup with a mark of 15-3 for the season. They cough up possession 12.0 times per game and as a group they are committing 13.6 fouls per contest. As a team, Kentucky is pulling in 42.4 rebounds per game and has accounted for 310 assists for the year, which ranks 9th in college basketball in terms of passing the ball. The Wildcats are connecting on 35.3% from downtown (119 of 337) and 73.2% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 82.9 points per game (7th in Division 1) while going 49.8% from the field.

On defense, the Wildcats are able to force 13.0 turnovers per contest while drawing 14.8 fouls. They currently rank 129th in the country in allowing assists to their opponents with 193 relinquished this season. The Wildcats defense is giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 39.9% (428 of 1,073) and they surrender 28.7 boards per game as a group. They give up 29.7% on 3-pointers and they are 40th in college basketball in points per game allowed (62.8).

The last time they took the hardwood, the Auburn Tigers walked away with a victory by a final of 83-60 when they faced Georgia. When talking about how they cleaned up the glass, Auburn allowed Georgia to snag 30 in total (7 on the offensive glass). They shot 38.5% from downtown by going 5 of 13 and finished the game at 13 of 18 from the free throw line (72.2%). The Tigers permitted Georgia to convert 21 of 50 tries from the floor which gave them a rate of 42.0% in the game. Overall, the Tigers shot 33 for 72 from the floor which had them at 45.8%. In the matter of shots from 3-point land, Auburn buried 10 of 36 attempts (27.8%). They were able to knock down 7 of those for a rate of 77.8%. Georgia was called for 12 fouls for this game which got the Tigers to the free throw line for 9 attempts. They also turned the ball over 8 times, while getting 11 steals in the game. The Tigers were able to corral 25 defensive rebounds and 11 offensive boards totaling 36 for the matchup.

Walker Kessler was important for the Tigers in the matchup. He converted 7 out of 11 in this contest for a field goal rate of 63.6%, and accumulated 6 rebounds. He had 15 points in his 27 mins of playing time and totaled 1 assist for this contest.

Auburn has a win-loss mark of 17-1 for the year. As an offense, the Tigers are shooting 45.6% from the field, which is 111th in the nation. Auburn has 1,453 points so far this season (80.7 per contest) and they average 39.2 boards per game. They are assisting teammates 15.5 times per game (62nd in college basketball) and they turn it over 11.6 times per contest. The Tigers have committed 18.4 fouls every game and they shoot 72.1% from the charity stripe.

The Auburn defense allows 31.3% on 3-pointers (124 of 396) and opponents are knocking down 71.5% of their foul shots. They have surrendered 11.0 assists and 35.6 total boards per game, which is 78th and 234th in those defensive categories. The Tigers on the defensive side of the court are 96th in college basketball in points given up per game with 65.6. They are forcing their opponents into 16.2 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 38.5% from the floor (17th in college basketball).

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Kentucky

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