UConn at St. John's odds, picks and predictions
The top-ranked UConn Huskies (19-2, 9-1 Big East) take on the St. John's Red Storm (13-8, 5-5 Big East) Saturday in New York City. Tipoff at Madison Square Garden is at noon ET (FOX). Below, we analyze FanDuel Sportsbook's lines around the UConn vs. St. John's odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and best bets.
The Huskies are in the midst of a 9-game winning streak, which started with a victory over the Red Storm back on Dec. 23. F Samson Johnson poured in a season-high 16 points in the 69-65 win, although St. John's did cover the 11-point spread. C Donovan Clingan missed the game as he dealt with an injury to a tendon in his foot.
St. John's enters the matchup having lost 4 of their last 5 games. This past Wednesday, the Red Storm fell at Xavier 88-77, which snapped a streak of 4 straight Unders in St. John's games. Along with Xavier, St. John's is the top rebounding team in the Big East, with C Joel Soriano atop the conference at 10.0 RPG.
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UConn at St. John's odds
Provided by FanDuel Sportsbook; access Paste BN Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 8:30 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): UConn -164 (bet $164 to win $100) | St. John's +136 (bet $100 to win $136)
- Against the spread (ATS): UConn -3.5 (-110) | St. John's +3.5 (-110)
- Over/Under (O/U): 145.5 (O: -114 | U: -106)
UConn at St. John's picks and predictions
Prediction
UConn 73, St. John's 67
Moneyline
BACK UCONN ML -164.
The Red Storm have been cold from 3-point range: over their last 3 games they are 12 of 54 (22.2%-lowest in the Big East). Plus, St. John's shoots free throws at a 70.5% clip, which is 2nd-lowest in the conference.
The MSG crowd will be rocking, but that may not help a Johnnies offense that could be overanxious. Expect this game to be close, but the inability from St. John's to score from beyond the arc and at the charity stripe will cost them a chance at a victory against top-ranked UConn.
Against the spread
PASS.
This game opened at 5.5 before getting down to as low as 2.5 Friday evening on FanDuel. I am not sure why the line would move that way considering these are two schools that have gone in somewhat opposite directions as of late. It's extra juice, but I'm willing to pay for the ML rather than worry about laying points.
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Over/Under
BET UNDER 145.5 (-106).
Not only does UConn feature the top-scoring defense in the Big East (64.2 points allowed per game), the Huskies sit atop the conference in blocks per game with 5.4. St. John's is right behind them at 5.3, and Soriano had 4 himself in the loss at Xavier.
Connecticut plays at the slowest pace in the Big East (68.7 possessions per game) but are tied with Butler for highest scoring offense in the conference averaging 81.6 PPG. Expect a sweat when betting the total, but I believe the Under will come through again.
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