ESPN's metrics believe Auburn will beat Mississippi State

These metrics believe Auburn will beat Mississippi State.

The Auburn Tigers are set to head to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs for their second road game of the week. 

On Wednesday, Auburn lost its first game of SEC play on the road in Tuscaloosa to the Alabama Crimson Tide. Now the Tigers are 5-1 in SEC play, but the problem is they are 0-3 in Quad 1 games. Auburn got hurt by some games they anticipated, being Quad 1 wins, like USC, Arkansas, and Indiana slipping off that line. That is out of their control, but there will be plenty of opportunities to pick them up throughout SEC play. 

This Saturday, the Tigers will have a chance to pick up a Quad 1 win as they take on Mississippi State on the road. The Bulldogs are currently 43rd in Net, which makes this a Quad 1 opportunity for Bruce Pearl's squad. ESPN's matchup predictor gives Auburn a 65.6% chance to get back in the win column against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. 

Coach Pearl had this to say about the way his team fought against the Alabama Crimson Tide, "I thought we just got really good leadership," Pearl said. "We got good chemistry, we've got great kids. We got some stops, and we had some shots. We came here to win a game. You could tell. We came here to win. We didn't, but you could tell the way we came back in the second half."

The Bulldogs play solid defense, so Auburn needs to make sure that they are passing the basketball and getting good looks. If the Tigers can leave Starkville with the win, the loss to Alabama will sting a lot less.