Florida-Auburn expected to be close, one of Saturday’s top games per BPI

ESPN’s Basketball Power Index expects a close one in Gainesville between Florida and Auburn for what should be one of the best games on Saturday.

Florida basketball returns home this weekend after splitting a pair of Southeastern Conference matchups on the road looking to earn another top-25 victory. The Auburn Tigers arrive in town Saturday for the afternoon showdown at the O’Connell Center coral.

Using the College Basketball Power Index, ESPN predicts the winner and margin of every matchup in the country. According to Saturday’s projections, Auburn has a 61.5% chance to win with an expected 3.1-point margin of victory. The game also earned a matchup quality rating of 93.4, giving it the fourth-highest mark on a day jammed-packed with college basketball action.

“BPI is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward,” the site reads. “BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is… Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections.”

The game will be of the Quadrant 1 variety for Florida, which enters the matchup ranked No. 39 in the NET, while Auburn is also playing a Quad 1 game ranked No. 7 coming in.

The game will take place on Saturday, Feb. 10, with the tipoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game broadcasting on the SEC Network.

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