Gunter: SEC Games of the Week
Published on Tuesday, 2/2/16, at 12:08 a.m. Eastern.
By William Gunter
Special to BrianEdwardsSports.com
Editor’s note: William Gunter is the co-host of Reynolds & Gunter on Fox Sports Radio in Columbia, South Carolina. Brian Edwards will be talking Super Bowl 50 with the duo at 4:30 p.m. Eastern this Friday afternoon. You can follow William on twitter by clicking here.
South Carolina (19-2; 6-2) at Georgia (11-8; 4-4)
(Tuesday 7:00 p.m. – ESPNU)
The Gamecocks are 14-4 ATS on the season with a road ATS record of 3-2. In their four conference games on the road this season, the team has produced an ATS record of 2-2.
The Gamecocks are currently on a two-game straight up winning streak both straight up and ATS.
Heading into the week, Frank Martin’s ball club is 13th nationally in field goal defense allowing 38.4 percent shooting and fourth in rebounding averaging 42 total boards per game.
The Bulldogs are 11-8 ATS on the season with a home ATS record of 7-6. In their four conference home games this season they 3-1 ATS with the lone loss coming to Texas A&M.
The Bulldogs are coming off a two game road trip that saw them drop both games to LSU and then Baylor. Mark Fox’s team comes into the game Tuesday night 14th nationally in field goal defense allowing 38.5 percent shooting from the field.
Arkansas (11-10; 4-4) at Florida (14-7; 5-3)
(Wednesday 7:00 p.m. – SEC Network)
The Razorbacks travel to Gainesville on Wednesday night looking to continue a two-game straight up and ATS winning streak. On the season, Arkansas is 10-7 ATS with a 4-2 ATS mark away from Fayetteville.
The under has cashed in four of the last five contest for the Razorbacks.
Heading into the week, Mike Anderson’s ball club is ranked 23rd nationally in points per game averaging 81.6 and is sixth nationally in three point shooting connecting on 42.6 percent of their attempts.
Florida is off their big win over West Virginia and will look to continue their momentum as they have won four of their last five straight up and six of their last seven ATS.
On the season, the Gators are 12-6-1 ATS and have posted a solid 6-2-1 ATS mark in home games. The over has hit in four of the last five games played by the Gators.
Mike White’s ball club has been a tough defensive unit so far this year ranking 21st nationally in field goal defense percentage (38.9%) and 22nd nationally three point defense percentage (30.3%).
The Gators are near the bottom of college basketball in free throw percentage having connected on just 63.3 percent from the season placing them 331st nationally.
Texas A&M (18-3; 7-1) at Vanderbilt (12-9; 4-4)
(Thursday 7:00 p.m. – ESPN2)
Texas A&M suffered their first set back in conference play last week with a 74-71 loss as a three point favorite at Arkansas.
On the season, the Aggies are 8-6-2 ATS and 3-4-1 ATS in conference play with a 1-2-1 ATS mark on the road.
Billy Kennedy’s ball club is coming off a 72-62 victory over Iowa State at home to pick up their 18th win of the season.
The under has cashed in eight of the last 10 games Texas A&M has played. The Aggies boast one of the top defense’s in the nation currently ranked 26th nationally allowing just 64.1 points per game.
Vanderbilt enters Thursday night’s game off a 72-58 setback on the road at Texas as a 2.5 underdog. The loss was the third straight ATS for the Commodores who are currently 9-10 on the season ATS with a 5-4 mark ATS at home.
In their last 10 games, the Commodores have lost eight of them ATS with the under cashing in on five of the last seven.
Vanderbilt enters the game 15th nationally in offensive three point percentage connecting on 40.1 percent per game. The Commodore defense is just as good at not allowing three pointers made ranking second nationally allowing just 27.5 percent per game.
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Auburn is 8-11 ATS on the season however they have last six of their last eight ATS including failing to cover underdog roles of 16 at Vanderbilt (57-75 loss), 12.5 at Florida (63-95 loss) and 7 at Mississippi (63-80 loss). Couple with Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma State at home by a score of 74-63, the Tigers have now lost three straight by double digits. This week, they face LSU on Tuesday night and travel to Georgia on Saturday. For the season, the Tigers are 0-7 ATS on the road.
LSU broke a six game ATS losing streak on Saturday when they covered vs Oklahoma as a three point underdog. The Tigers had gone 4-2 straight up in those six games but had failed to cover four of the games as the favorite and two as the underdog. The Under has also cashed in four of the last five games the Tigers have played in. On the season, the Tigers are just 6-12 overall ATS and this week travel to Auburn on Tuesday and face Mississippi State at home on Saturday.
Florid has won four of their last five games under Mike White and Saturday may have gotten their signature win as they defeated West Virginia 88-71. The Gators though has covered six of their last seven games ATS with the lone ATS loss a 81-78 victory over Mississippi State as a 10 point favorite. This week they get Arkansas in Gainesville before a trip to Kentucky on Saturday.
Tennessee senior guard Kevin Punter poured in 24 points in a 75-63 loss on Saturday to TCU. The SEC’s second leading scorer at 23 points per game has now scored 23 or more points in four of his last five contests including a 36 point outing vs South Carolina on January 23rd. The Vols, who are 7-3-2 ATS as underdogs, blew a 14-point halftime lead in the loss to the Horned Frogs. They welcome Kentucky to Knoxville tonight. UK was favored by seven as of early this morning.
South Carolina senior forward Michael Carrera has posted three straight games of 20 or more points and recorded back to back double-doubles. Last week, the 6-foot-5 wing scored 34 points and grabbed 15 rebounds vs Mississippi State and followed that up with 20 points and 11 rebounds vs Alabama. On the season, Carrera is shooting 45 percent from three point range hitting 30-of-66 shots.
Georgia junior point guard J.J. Frazier has three straight games of 21 or more points. In those games, the 5-foot-10 Frazier is hitting 53 percent (24-of-45) from the field and has connected on 11-of-27 attempts from three point range. Frazier posted back to back games of 26 points vs Arkansas and LSU, then on Saturday he scored 21 in a loss to Baylor. Frazier’s late-game scoring was key to backdoor spread covers in both Baton Rouge and Waco.
Arkansas 6-foot-10 junior forward Moses Kingsley has posted three straight double-doubles for the Razorbacks. In the team’s big victory over Texas A&M last week, Kingsley scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. That game was sandwiched around a 11 point, 10 rebound performance in a three point loss to Georgia and 17 points, 11 rebound showing on Saturday in an overtime win over Texas Tech.
