Mississippi is a proven road commodity with a school-record four straight SEC away victories. The Rebels nearly won at Kentucky, too, losing in overtime. They are 8-1-1 ATS in their last 10 lined road contests beating marketplace expectations by nearly 70 points in their SEC road matchups.

The Rebels, though, are off a 76-72 home loss to Georgia. Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy ripped into his team following that defeat. LSU is coming off an 84-61 win against Auburn. Mississippi is a very solid team. I see the Rebels being fired-up for this game while it could be asking a lot for the Tigers to play a second consecutive near flawless game.

Mississippi also has revenge motivation. LSU beat the Rebels, 75-71, at Oxford in mid-January. Mississippi had 18 more field goal attempts than LSU in that game, but could only connect on 34.6 percent of its shots from the floor. The Rebels shoot 43 percent from the floor on the season and rank No. 2 in the nation in free throw percentage at 78.1 percent.

The Rebels have balanced scored, excellent depth and experience with four upperclassmen starters. The Rebels are plus 23 in rebounding in their conference games and have forced 32 more turnovers than they have committed. They are 10-5 in the SEC with their five defeats coming by a combined 14 points in regulation.

My preference is to back LSU on the road and stay away from the Tigers at home in a favorite's role. The Tigers already have lost four times in the SEC when chalk. They needed overtime to beat Georgia, or it would have been five straight-up losses as conference chalk.

(Editor's note: Long-time pro Stephen Nover is 10-4 on his last 14 college basketball premium plays and 21-11 on his last 32 NBA premium plays.)