Georgia hosts Missouri for a highly anticipated SEC battle on Saturday. It's time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Missouri-Georgia prediction and pick.
Missouri is playing themselves into an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, barring a late collapse. With the schedule they have remaining, the Tigers should make it, but have some tough games remaining against Kentucky, Alabama, and Arkansas. The Tigers have wins against No. 1 Kansas, Cal, LSU, No. 5 Florida, No. 12 Ole Miss, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, and No. 14 Mississippi State. As the No. 21 team in the country right now and 18-6 overall, the Tigers still only sit in 6th place in the conference. The SEC currently has nine ranked teams, and five teams that aren't ranked have at least 15 wins.
Georgia would be one of the better teams in any other conference other than the SEC. As of now, they are 16-9 but only 4-8 in conference play. They are 13-2 at home but somehow are 12th in the conference standings. Georgia's biggest win of the season came against No. 6 Kentucky, and they also have wins against No. 22 St. John's, No. 17 Oklahoma, and LSU. The Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back losses to Miss State and Texas A&M. If Georgia wants to make the NCAA Tournament, they must win the SEC Tournament, which is highly unlikely.
Missouri: +1.5 (-122)
Moneyline: -110
Georgia: -1.5 (+100)
Moneyline: -110
Over: 143.5 (-115)
Under: 143.5 (-105)
Time: 3:30 ET/12:30 PT
TV: SEC Network
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The Tigers have played a lot of home games and as a result, are 16-1. On the road, they are 2-4 in just six games. However, their two road wins are two of the biggest wins of the season when they beat Florida and Mississippi State. It's expected that the Tigers will continue to play competitive basketball, and this has the makings of being a close game. This is a crucial contest for Missouri as their postseason hopes rely on winning this game. They take on No. 2 Alabama at home next week followed by Arkansas on the road.
Tamar Bates continues to lead the team in scoring. He averages 13.5 per game but is coming off a game where he scored just two points. He played only 20 minutes in the win over Oklahoma. Other players stepped up and played very well. Mark Mitchell scored 25 points and that shot his average up to 12.9 per game. The Tigers responded after losing to Texas A&M with a 24-point win over OU. They have the scoring ability and the depth to beat Georgia on the road.
Missouri is 14-10 against the spread and 11-12 on over/under's.
Freshman Asa Newell is playing very well for the Bulldogs. They are going to need another strong outing from him if they want to win this game. In the loss to A&M, he scored just six points. He had scored 16+ in his previous four games. On the season, Newell is averaging 15.0 per game on 54.5% shooting. He adds 6.7 rebounds, 1.o blocks, and 1.2 steals as a 6-foot-11 forward.
In the backcourt, Silas Demary Jr. averages 11.8 points, 3.2 assists, and 1.7 steals. Dakota Leffew averages 10.7 points and Blue Cain adds 8.8 points and 1.3 steals. Backup center Somot Cyril can protect the rim as he averages 1.8 blocks and 2.2 per game at home. He scores at a rate of only 4.4 points per contest but shoots 63.1% from the field. It will take a group effort to defeat the Tigers tomorrow night.
Georgia is 12-13 against the spread and 8-16-1 on over/under's.
This will be a close game, and Missouri has more to lose with a loss. They should barely sneak by against Georgia on the road.
