Vermont vs. Auburn prediction: College basketball picks odds, best bets

Fresh off a big upset win over the UAB Blazers on Monday, the Vermont Catamounts travel to Auburn, Alabama, to visit Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday. The Tigers are considered among the league’s top college basketball teams.The surprising return of fifth-year center Johni Broome has transformed the team’s outlook.However, the Catamounts are no joke.

John Becker is an excellent head coach who’s led Vermont to eight consecutive America East regular-season titles. Read on for my Vermont vs Auburn predictions and college basketball picks for Nov.6’s matchup. (8 p.m.

ET, SEC Network+)Broome is among the nation’s best interior defenders, blocking 2.2 shots per game last year while deterring every shot near the painted area.He’s the primary reason Auburn led all D-I college hoops teams in 2-point shooting allowed in 2023-24 (43%).Broome’s monstrous interior presence allows for more aggressive perimeter defense.

The Tiger guards know that Broome will clean up their mistakes, so they pressure opposing ball-handlers and – of specific importance to this matchup – run opposing shooters off the 3-point line. Auburn ranked top-50 nationally in 3-point rate allowed and low-quality 3s forced last season.That bodes well in this matchup with Vermont’s perimeter-oriented five-out spread offense that consistently ranks near the nation’s top in 3-point attempts per game. Suffice it to say I don’t expect the Catamounts to generate many open looks from deep. Last season, Vermont’s offense was a little too one-dimensional and overly reliant on spot-up shooting, which resulted in too many prolonged draughts of stale offense.

While the Catamounts brought in Howard transfer Shy Odom from the portal to help create some more consistent interior offense and solve the one-dimensional issue, he’s currently sidelined with an ankle injury. Therefore, I don’t expect the Catamounts to score much.The most effective way to beat Auburn’s defense ...