Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
The SEC Tournament begins today in Nashville, with the first of three consecutive days featuring four tournament games per day. We are riding into Nashville on a hot streak. The best bets from Saturday finished 4-2, and once again the Lock of the Week was unblemished, finishing the regular season at 10-1.
Here are the best bets and why for day one of the SEC Tournament.
Best Bets
– Kentucky -8 *Lock of the Day*
– Texas -5.5
– Auburn -6.5
– Auburn -2.5 1st Half
– Josh Hubbard Over 2.5 3 Pointers
– 2 Team Teaser (5 points)
– Texas -.5
– Oklahoma -2.5
Let me explain…
Ole Miss is 11-20 this season against the spread. That’s the second worst record ATS in the SEC and the third worst of any High Major team in the entire country. I like Texas to cover what feels like a relatively low spread. The Rebels lost 12 of their final 13 games, and that includes an 11 point loss to Texas. Four of their last five losses have been by seven points or less, and the only one that wasn’t was against No. 1 Seed Florida. Still, Texas is a much better team than Ole Miss.
Mississippi State owns the worst ATS record in the conference and the country for any High Major program at 10-21. It’s not like Auburn is much better at 13-18, but they are desperate for a win to get into the NCAA Tournament. There is a little bad blood between these two clubs, as Auburn Forward Keshawn Murphy spent his first three years of college at Mississippi State. In their regular season meeting, State’s Josh Hubbard had a lot to say to the fans in Starkville once the game was in hand screaming “You don’t leave State!” to the student section in the waning moments of that game. Hubbard went off for 46 points in that matchup hitting ten threes.
“YOU DON’T LEAVE STATE!”
Josh Hubbard went off last night then chirped former Mississippi State player Keyshawn Murphy
— Mostly Hoops With Mark Titus & Co. (@MostlyHoopsShow) February 19, 2026
The last bet I like in the Auburn-Mississippi State game is Mississippi State over 74.5 points. Nine of Auburn’s last 11 opponents have scored over 75 points against the Tigers. The only two that didn’t reach above 75 scored 74. The last time these two met, Mississippi State scored 91.
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