Auburn vs Miami 3/20/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Miami Hurricanes and the Auburn Tigers meet Sunday in NCAA Tournament Second Round action from Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Miami is 24-10 this year and coming off a big First Round win over USC. As for Auburn, they’re sitting at 28-5 overall and took a win over Jacksonville State in their First Round matchup. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Miami has had a couple of spotty stretches this year (like a 3-4 run in January/February) but they’ve stayed very consistent so far and only lost consecutive games once all season. The Hurricanes fell to Duke in the conference tourney but bounced back versus USC in the First Round game. 

In the Friday tournament outing versus USC, the Hurricanes were up 31-20 by halftime. Miami was outscored 37-46 in the second half but hung on for the 68-66 win to move on. Isaiah Wong led the team on his 22 points and four rebounds, while Charlie Moore added 16 points of his own. 

Over on the Auburn side, they had just one blemish in their first 23 games (a loss to UConn in late November) as they stormed out of the gate. The Tigers did finish the regular season on a sketchy 3-2 run and fell to Texas A&M in their first conference tournament appearance, but they got a win over Jacksonville State Friday in the national tourney. 

Matched up against the Gamecocks on Friday in the tournament, the Tigers hit a nice 39-27 clip in the first half. Auburn kept it going on a 41-34 run from there on the way to an 80-61 win. Leading scorer Jabari Smith doubled on 20 points and 14 boards, as did Walker Kessler with 13 points and 10 rebounds. 

PICK: I’m probably going to stay with Auburn. The Tigers did a pretty good job in their initial tournament game Friday, shooting 44.4 percent from the field with 50 rebounds and 23 team assists. Auburn has been doing quite well lately; their last four losses have all been within five points or fewer, but they have fallen in a couple of matchups that they certainly should have won. 

As for Miami, they’re not just going to roll over here. The Hurricanes played great against Duke in the conference tourney loss and had a stellar first half against USC to pull off the upset. That said, Miami shot a tepid 42.9 percent from the floor versus the Trojans, along with just 1-of-14 (7.1 percent) from 3-point range and a 29-41 rebounding deficit. It’s going to take more than that to keep up with Auburn, but I think the Hurricanes will still hang around for a while in this game.