GAME PREVIEW: #15 Auburn @ West Virginia

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

We’re on the road!

GAME 21: Saturday, January 28th, 2023

#15 Auburn Tigers @ West Virginia Mountaineers

WVU Coliseum - Morgantown, WV

Time: 11:00 am CST/12:00 pm EST

Network: ESPN, Auburn Radio Network

Betting Odds: Auburn +3.5, Over/Under 138.0 via Draft Kings Sportsbook

(Odds/lines subject to change. Visit DraftKings for more information.)

Oh my goodness, we’re an underdog today! Truthfully, it speaks to the Big 12’s prowess as a top basketball conference and a league that’s good top to bottom. The Tigers travel to West Virginia today to battle the Mountaineers (Moun-TAN-eers for your pronunciation guide if you want to blend in) to try to get back on the right track.

Gone is Auburn’s 28-game home winning streak, and a bit of the confidence we had built as well. Texas A&M may have Auburn’s number, and Tyrece Radford might be our actual kryptonite, but the facts remain that the Tigers looked listless over the final 35 minutes of the game as the Aggies controlled the tempo and built a double-digit lead that never really got threatened. Turnovers, lack of shooting, and some questionable line shifts during the game stunted Auburn’s momentum after a 10-2 start and A&M never looked back.

Now, we’re off to West-Virginia-Mountain-Mama to tangle with Bob Huggins in his 16th season as head coach in Morgantown.

THE OPPONENT

WVU isn’t the most intimidating opponent on paper, as they’re just 12-8 overall and 2-6 in Big 12 action. However, the losses are to Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Baylor, Texas, and Oklahoma. It’s not exactly losing to the little sisters of the poor, and so their record is a bit deceiving. In the non-con, they lost to Purdue and Xavier. Of the 8 losses you might find 8 tournament teams.

As a team, we’re going to see something similar to what we saw on Wednesday night, and that’s a team that knows how to get to the free throw line. WVU scores more on average than A&M did, and they’re better in many categories than the Aggies, but the makeup is similar. They’re not a great shooting team, but they still cobble together 77 points per game.

Per Game Team and Opponent Stats Table

	G	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	2P	2PA	2P%	3P	3PA	3P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Team	20	40.3	26.4	57.3	.461	19.3	36.8	.524	7.1	20.5	.347	17.1	24.2	.706	11.4	23.3	34.7	13.3	6.3	2.9	12.9	19.7	77.0
Rank			138th	218th	97th	114th	151st	115th	224th	248th	152nd	12th	13th	210th	84th	305th	214th	185th	219th	230th	163rd	24th	62nd
Opponent	20	40.3	23.4	53.5	.437	17.3	34.6	.499	6.1	18.9	.324	16.0	22.2	.718	9.2	21.5	30.6	11.7	6.3	2.5	15.5	22.2	68.8
Rank			84th	39th	207th	147th	135th	208th	64th	52nd	127th	340th	341st	229th	124th	14th	16th	177th	147th	39th	320th	362nd	167th

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 1/28/2023.

We’re going to recognize our old nemesis Erik Stevenson as he leads the Mountaineers in scoring with 13.1 ppg, and I’m sure he’ll be revenge-minded after what Auburn did to him at South Carolina last year. Tre Mitchell, Joe Toussaint, and Kedrian Johnson all average double dfigures as well, with Mitchell leading the team in rebounds and three-point accuracy.

If you know anything about the way that Bob Huggins teams are coached, then maybe Wednesday night was a nice little warmup. We’re not going to have any easier time with an opponent that likes to put pressure on you and force the issue, but maybe we’re in the groove after playing A&M.

PREDICTION

An early game on the road in an unfamiliar place doesn’t have me super confident that Auburn can win. I can see Stevenson hitting three after three like he did when the Tigers played him last year, but I can also see Johni Broome having a big game against a bit of a smaller team. However, this game will go as Wendell Green goes. If Auburn can get a clean performance from him against some really aggressive defensive play, then the Tigers can win. Otherwise, this could just be an exercise in pain. I think it’s close, but I’m not confident on the road.

West Virginia 71, Auburn 69

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