Auburn basketball returns to Neville Arena nearing the end of the non-conference play to face Georgia State. Read more for a full Auburn vs Georgia State prediction and preview.
The Auburn Tigers return to Neville Arena after the short drive to Atlanta for Holiday Hoopsgiving. The Tiger’s 91-53 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes marked the largest in program history over a power program.
After sticking at No. 2 in the AP poll this week and No. 1 in KenPom, Auburn will play its second-lowest NET-ranked team, Georiga State, this Tuesday at home.
With three non-conference games left before SEC play begins, the Tigers will not leave the state again before they open with Missouri in early January.
General Information:
Teams: Auburn (9-1) and Georgia State (4-6)
Tip time: 7 p.m. CST (8 p.m. EST)
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Auburn Sports Network
Latest on Georgia State basketball:
The Georiga State Panthers hail from the Sun Belt, the first Sun Belt opponent the Tigers will face this season. While this is the third SEC team, the Panthers will play with a 0-2 record with a 101-66 loss to Mississippi State and a 105-76 loss to Kentucky.
After a 4-3 start to the season, the Panthers have dropped three consecutive games with their most recent loss, a 77-63 defeat to Charlotte.
Senior Forward leads the Panthers Zarique Nutter, who has yet to score in the single digits this season and currently averages 17.9 PGG and four APG. Nutter has seen sharp declines in his rebounding after grabbing 12 in the first game of the season and has yet to reach the double-digit mark since.
While Nutter fails to be able to score from outside, that aspect of the game is led by senior guard Toneari Lane. In Lane’s second season with the Panthers, the sharp shooting guard is averaging 14.5 PPG while shooting 34.1% on 3-point attempts.
Latest on Auburn basketball
The Tigers ranked second in the AP Poll for the second consecutive week and first in the NET and on KenPom.
The dominance of not only Auburn but also the SEC in the out-of-conference slate has been on display early in this basketball season, and it will be reflected in the Tigers conference schedule as all but three games are ranked quad two, with the rest ranked quad one.
With a record of 5-1 in quad-one games the most quad-one wins in the country, the Tigers gauntlet will continue despite the most challenging non-conference schedule in the program’s history.
Auburn vs Georgia State prediction:
Looking ahead
The final three non-conference games are at opposite ends of the spectrum. The games against Georgia State and Monmouth are rated as quad-four and outside the top 200 on KenPom, with a quad-one game against Purdue sandwiched in between.
It will be the fourth meeting between the two schools, with Purdue holding a 2-1 lead and will play in two neutral site games, with the second game in Indy in 2025.
The Tigers will travel to Birmingham to play the Boilermakers in the same arena where they played for the first two days of the 2022 March Madness tournament.