ESPN Analytics predicts outcome of Iron Bowl basketball bash in Tuscaloosa
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ESPN Analytics isn’t investing much in the bitter Iron Bowl rivalry having a big effect on Saturday night’s monumental basketball game in Tuscaloosa.
Yes, Auburn is in dire need of any kind of victory, let alone a massive road win over a ranked rival on the final weekend of the regular season. That would be just what the doctor ordered for Steven Pearl’s Tigers, who will enter Coleman Coliseum sitting at just 16-14 overall and 7-10 in the SEC. They would love nothing more than to enter next week’s SEC Tournament with a huge feather in their caps in the form of a victory over 16th-ranked Alabama.
The Crimson Tide might have lost their last game, on Tuesday night at Georgia, but they had won 8 in a row before that and they’re sitting pretty at 22-8 overall and 12-5 in the SEC. Bama is tied for 2nd place in the conference with Arkansas, and that’s at stake for the Tide on Saturday night in the spotlight 8:30 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN.
But they aren’t scrapping just to get into the NCAA Tournament like their rivals are at this moment. Auburn is by far the more desperate of the teams going into the matchup, but that doesn’t mean ESPN’s BPI believes the Tigers will prevail solely on that desperation. In fact, the BPI is giving Bama a solid 74% chance to beat Auburn for the 2nd time this season, with the Crimson Tide outlasting the Tigers, 96-92, back on Feb. 7 on the Plains.
Auburn had been a sinking ship recently, losing 7 of its past 8 games before finally rescuing itself a little at least with Tuesday night’s home victory over lowly LSU. But Pearl’s bunch is going to need a lot more than that to sneak into the NCAA Tournament, and it can start that last-ditch pursuit by earning a massive win on Saturday night before it turns its focus to the SEC Tournament.
Here is how Kalshi breaks down the upcoming SEC Tournament, with the final weekend of the regular season approaching:
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.
