February 2019

Game Details:

• When: Wednesday, February 27 @ 8 pm CT
• Where: Stegman Coliseum, Athens, GA
• How to Watch: ESPNU, watchespn.com, WatchEspn App

Team Spotlights:

• Auburn:

  • Hasn’t been ranked for a few weeks now, sitting at 18-9 overall and 7-7 in the SEC
  • Auburn has lost 3 out of their last 5 games with their most recent loss coming by way of a slaughtering by Kentucky.
  • On Saturday, Bruce Pearl called the loss embarrassing, and Auburn played horribly.
  • The defense had been great over the past few weeks, but, on Saturday, returned to the form they played at the beginning of SEC play.
  • Starting Center Austin Wiley is still slowly returning from an injury that has hobbled him for a few weeks. It doesn’t appear he will be playing in this game against the Bulldogs.
  • Auburn has really struggled on the road this season, but this is as close to a must-win game that the Tigers have played in.

• Georgia:

  • Really bad, UGA is 10-17 overall and 1-13 in the SEC.
  • Although their record doesn’t show it, this Bulldog squad has been playing much, much better lately. They have lost 8 in a row and 13 out of 15.  They haven’t won a game in February.
  • Georgia HAS been playing waaaaaaaaaay better as of late. Their loses this month include: by 6 @ USC, by 4 against LSU, by 1 vs MSU, and, most recently, by 1 @ Ole Miss.
  • This was always going to be a rebuilding year for UGA, with new coach Tom Crean taking over and their best player graduating.
  • They debatably should’ve beaten MSU until a fan threw a stuffed dog onto the court causing UGA to get a technical foul, and gifting the MSU player a free throw to take the lead. Real dumb move by that guy.

Player Spotlight:

• Auburn:

  • Bryce Brown
    • Auburn’s leading scorer, the senior from Stone Mountain, GA averages 15.9 points per game. The team goes as Brown goes. Auburn has struggled to find offense outside of their guards. The senior leader of this team, Brown shoots 41% from behind the three point line, and he has never seen a shot he didn’t like. When Brown is efficient, Auburn is much better offensively, but when he struggles, Auburn struggles mightily. If you have read these previews over the last few weeks, you may have noticed that Brown’s ppg number keeps dropping. That is because he hasn’t played well lately. No one on Auburn’s team has.
  • Jared Harper
    • Jared has had what can only be described as a disappointing season. A junior who was billed as one of the best point guards in the SEC has had major issues with shot selection and turnovers. An undersized human being, Harper often defaults to his three point shot instead of continuing to be aggressive as games wear on. Earlier this season, Coach Pearl made the observation that if Harper has a bad game, Auburn can’t win. I would take that a step further and say if Harper has a mediocre game, Auburn can’t win.

• Georgia:

  • Nicolas Claxton
    • The 6′ 11″ sophomore forward is the leading scorer for the Bulldogs at 12.7 points per game. He also pulls down an average of 9 rebounds each outing. We have seen Auburn have lots of trouble defending big men without fouling, especially on the road. Auburn’s only real success at it was at home against Daniel Gafford (Arkansas). Look for UGA to try to take advantage of their size advantage using Claxton early and often.
  • Tom Crean
    • I know, I know. He isn’t a player. But he is the most important person on this team. If UGA is going to win this game, it will because Tom outcoaches Bruce. We have seen Bruce get outcoached during certain games this season when “inferior” teams have given Auburn fits (see: Ole Miss) (also see: Ole Miss). Crean has his team playing immensely better lately, and this would be as close to a season ruining loss as Auburn could take.

Auburn Network Predictions:

• Bill Cameron, The Drive with Bill Cameron, ESPN 106.7

  • Georgia may only have one win in SEC play, but they’ve been soooo close the last few games, so this is a scary game and a must-win. A shaky nod to the Tigers 77-74.

• Olivia Crew, Producer: The SEC Report, ESPN 106.7

  • Kentucky is number four in the country. They are playing at home, and they are very good. Kentucky is going to win.

• Zac Blackerby, Station Manager, ESPN 106.7

  • Hello Coach Paptato,
  • While I think Auburn has the better roster and took care of business against Georgia earlier in the season, I think Georgia has gotten better as a unit since that meeting while Auburn may have slipped as a team. With this game being on the road, I’m skeptical about this Auburn team. Vegas has Auburn favored by 8.5 in some places. I have a hard time seeing that.Auburn 71 Georgia 76.

• Painter Sharpless, The Lunch Break, ESPN 106.7

  • Auburn has played inconsistent basketball throughout conference play. The Tigers provided their worst effort of the year last Saturday against Kentucky. While their results have been disappointing, one thing Auburn has excelled at the last two seasons under Bruce Pearl is taking care of business against inferior opponents.
  • Although Georgia has shown improvement, even after coach Tom Crean seemingly threw his team under the bus for their performance earlier this season, it won’t be enough to contain Auburn’s guards and an increasingly impressive Chuma Okeke in Athens. Auburn picks up a needed albeit unimpressive road win against Georgia Wednesday.

• Will Schuette, The SEC Report, ESPN 106.7

  • Go listen to The SEC Report Podcast from Wednesday to find out why, but I think Auburn will pull it off.

• Riley Hubbard, Production Assistant, ESPN 106.7

  • After the embarrassing loss to Kentucky in Rupp Arena, Auburn is in need of a bounceback game and Georgia will be the one on Wednesday night. Overall, Georgia is not a very impressive team and has not had a good year by any stretch. Even with Austin Wiley out, Auburn will be able to create open looks from deep and hopefully be able to get points in the paint more than they have in recent games. Auburn takes the win in Athens 76-62.

• Rich Perkins, Rich and Jeremy in the Morning, Wings 94.3

  • Despite Austin Wiley being “doubtful” for this game, and that Auburn is still trying to emotionally recover from getting stomped like a narc at a biker rally by an up-ticking Kentucky squad, this trip to Athens may just be what the doctor ordered for Coach Bruce Pearl and company. I said it last week and I’ll say it again… the man has not forgotten how to coach. And for the Tigers, all the pieces (at least all the ones that they will have access to this season, minus the aforementioned Wiley) are still in place. ThUGA is 1-13 in conference, with their single win over bottom of the cellar Vandy. Sure, their losses have been close, and Pearl tells us all to throw the records out on this one, but c’mon, son. UGA is 0 and eleventy-billion against the spread and Auburn has been cleaning house in Vegas. Even on the road, the wise guys with the shiny hotels in the desert think the Tigers take this one and so do I. Let’s just hope the team busses make it out of A(ghanis)thens without duck-boot shorn rioters throwing up road blocks of piles of burning tires (I don’t care for Athens).AU 81
    UGA 68

THE CouchPaptato Prediction:

• First, I want to point out that I just copy and paste the email responses to my (email) requests for predictions from The Auburn Network crew. So if you find any typos or horrible spelling errors or just dumb takes, take it up with those guys. For example, if you would like to point out that Zac Blackerby called me “Coach Paptato” in his email (instead of CouchPaptato) (like Couch Potato) (but my last name is Pappas) (so CouchPaptato) (get it?) (it’s a pun) (it’s also in the by line of this blog) please call him out on it.
• Second, if someone, like I don’t know, just spit balling here, Intern Olivia, can’t be bothered to reply to my email, their take from the last game stays in the blog.
• Finally, my actual game prediction. Auburn is going to win this game handily. UGA just doesn’t have the talent to compete, and this Auburn team is too good to lose with their backs against the wall like this. Auburn 75-64.

About the Author: I am Michael Pappas, aka THE @CouchPaptato, and this is Before the Game. A game preview for the upcoming Auburn sporting event as I see it from the couch. Not necessarily my couch. Usually my couch…because I don’t often leave my apartment. I have a really great couch. Any couch is great though, I don’t discriminate. My home couch is in Dallas, TX, but for the last 5 years my butt has happily been couching in Auburn, AL. Hit me up on twitter or at couchpaptato@gmail.com and let me know what the view is like from your couch. Or how stupid the view is from my couch.