Purdue vs Auburn Prediction 12/21/2024

Purdue vs Auburn Preview

No. 2 Auburn (10-1) meets No. 16 Purdue (8-3) in an SEC-Big Ten clash on Saturday afternoon. In its last 5 games, Purdue has gone 3-2, beating NC State by 10 (71-61), Ole Miss by 2 (80-78), losing to Penn State by 11 (81-70), topping Maryland by 5 (73-68), and falling to Texas A&M by 4 (70-66). In their last 5 games, the Tigers are 4-1, defeating Memphis by 14 (90-76), losing to Duke in Durham by 6 (84-78), and then beating Richmond by 44 (98-54), Ohio State by 38 (91-53), and Georgia State by 41 (100-59) in the last 3 games. Auburn is at 8/1 odds (DraftKings) to win the 2025 NCAA Basketball Tournament and the Favorite in that Futures market while last year’s runners-up Purdue, is a big longshot at 60/1.

Purdue Resumes Tough Non-Conference Slate

Purdue (5-6-0 ATS, 5-5-1 O/U) has played some tough teams in November and December, including (then) No. 2 Alabama, No. 15 Marquette, last year’s Final Four team NC State, No. 23 Ole Miss, and No. 17 Texas A&M. So getting No. 2 Auburn before the Big Ten Conference schedule gets too hairy is no big thing, right? Wrong. Playing the Tigers is always a trial by fire for its opponents. The Boilermakers (+365 Moneyline) saw star big man Zach Edey leave for the NBA (Grizzlies) while the Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year Mason Gillis (6.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg) headed to Duke and Ethan Morton went to Colorado State in the Transfer Portal. Purdue is now led by F Trey Kaufman-Renn (18.2 ppg, 6.5 RPG), G Fletcher Loyer (13.5 ppg), G Braden Smith (13.4 ppg, 4.9 RPG, 8.5 APG), G Myles Colvin (7.5 ppg, 3.8 RPG), F Cameron Heide (7.1 ppg, 4.1 ppg), and Daniel Jacobsen (6.5 ppg, 3.5 RPG). Ken Pomeroy had the Boilermakers ranked at No. 22 on Thursday.

Purdue Betting Trends

• Purdue is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games overall
• The Over was 23-16-0 in Purdue games last season (59%) 
• The Boilermakers went 21-16-2 ATS in 2023-24
• The Under is 5-2-0 in the last 7 Purdue games
• Purdue is 1-3 ATS in its last 4 games
• The Boilermakers beat Auburn by 25 (96-71) as 10-Point Underdogs last meeting.

No. 2 Auburn is  a Very Profitable 9-2-0 ATS So Far

Auburn (9-2-0 ATS, 7-4-0 O/U) is ranked No. 1 by Ken Pomeroy now and this team has been a real money maker so far at online and brick-and-mortar sportsbooks in the US. The Tigers have already defeated some pretty good teams so far in (then) No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 9 North Carolina, and Memphis. Auburn (-490 Moneyline) has six dudes in double-figures in scoring by star F Jonhi Broome (18.1 ppg, 11.5 RPG, 3.5 APG), G Chad Baker-Maraza (13.2 ppg, 3.5 RPG, 2.5 APG), G Denver Jones (10.9 ppg, 2.5 apg), G Tahaad Petiford (10.7 ppg, 2.7 apg), F Chaney Johnson (10.6 ppg, 6.0 RPG), and G Miles Kelly (10.3 ppg, 2.5 RPG) with F Jahki Howard (8.4 ppg) and C Dylan Caldwell (5.5 ppg, 4.1 RPG) also providing some nice productive depth. The Tiger’s only 2 ATS losses were to Iowa State at Ames giving 3.5 points and winning by 2 (83-81) and at Duke where they were 3.5 Road Underdogs and ultimately lost by 6 points to the Blue Devils (84-78).

Auburn Betting Trends

• Auburn is 8-2-0 ATS in its last 10 games overall
• The Tigers are 9-1-0in  their last 10 games
• The Over is 6-2-0 in the Tigers last 8 games 
• Auburn went 21-14-0 ATS last season (60%)
• Auburn is 29-16 ATS in its last 45 games (64.4%)

Purdue vs Auburn Prediction

Although this game is in Alabama (Birmingham), this will be Auburn’s 6th game at a Neutral Site and the Tigers are 5-0 SU in those games, beating a star-studded group of NCAA Basketball schools in the process in Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina, Memphis, and Texas A&M. When Purdue (40.9% 3-Pointers, #18) beat the last No. 2-ranked team it played Alabama, the Boilermakers play a near perfect game, shooting 49.2% from the Field and 56.3% from Three-Point territory, having just 3 TOs and pulling away in the last 9 minutes to erase a 2-point deficit and win by 9 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette. But that one was at Home and Auburn is a bit better than the Crimson Tide and averages 88.5 ppg (#60) while allowing just 65.1 ppg. That’s a healthy +23.4 ppg Scoring Margin, good for No. 3 in the country behind No. 1 Maryland (+27) and No. 2 Tennessee (+25). This Purdue vs Auburn NCAAB pick will look to the Tigers to win by 10 points or more.

Kevin’s Pick: Auburn -9.5