Nate Oats’ No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide has no time to lick their wounds.
After falling 94-85 in Saturday’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown against the Auburn Tigers at Coleman Coliseum, Alabama (21-4 overall, 10-2 SEC) heads to the Show Me State to take on a Missouri Tigers team that has their own hopes of going on a deep run in next month’s NCAA Tournament.
Coach Dennis Gates’ Tigers (19-6, 8-4) moved up six spots to No. 16 in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll (No. 15, AP) after defeating Oklahoma and Georgia last week. Missouri is currently fifth in the SEC standings, one game behind Texas A&M and a half-game in front of the Tennessee Volunteers.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Top 15 showdown in Columbia, ESPN Analytics’ matchup predictor, which offers a prediction model based on its Men’s College Basketball Power Index ratings, gave the Crimson Tide a 57.5 percent chance to beat the Tigers at Mizzou Arena.
ESPN defines its BPI ratings as a “measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is.”
Alabama is No. 5 in ESPN’s BPI metrics (19.1) while Missouri is No. 32 (14.0). In the NET rankings, the Crimson Tide are No. 6; Missouri is No. 17.
Mark Sears led Alabama with 18 points in the loss to Auburn while Grant Nelson added 12 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway each had 10 points apiece.
Tipoff for Alabama vs. Missouri is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on SEC Network.
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama basketball odds of beating Missouri in Columbia, per ESPN
