ESPN Analytics predicts outcome of Auburn-Arkansas showdown in Fayetteville
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ESPN Analytics believes that John Calipari’s Arkansas team has a major advantage on Saturday night as it welcomes Auburn to Fayetteville for a primetime SEC showdown.
Calipari has steered the Razorbacks to an 8-3 SEC record after a 5-1 stretch that was capped by a dominant road victory over LSU on Tuesday night. The 91-62 blowout of the Tigers improved the 21st-ranked Hogs to 18-6 overall, and ESPN’s BPI believes that Arkansas has a great chance to keep rolling against Auburn at Bud Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks have a 65.6% chance to prevail over Steven Pearl’s team, according to the ESPN Analytics, and the matchup will get the royal treatment from ESPN, being placed in the 8:30 p.m. ET window.
Arkansas is suddenly just 1 game behind first-place Florida in the SEC standings, coming into this weekend in a 2nd-place tie with Kentucky.
While the Razorbacks are rolling into the home matchup, Auburn limps into Fayetteville on a 3-game losing streak that was capped by Tuesday night’s home loss to No. 19 Vanderbilt. The skid has dropped the Tigers below .500 in the SEC at 5-6, to go with a 14-10 overall record.
Auburn had won 4 in a row before this awful stretch, and Pearl’s team has a golden opportunity to get a huge road win on Saturday night and get itself back on track. It won’t be easy, and ESPN’s BPI revealed that steep challenge it believes the Tigers will face in Fayetteville.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
