The St. John’s Red Storm (3-0) meet the BYU Cougars (3-1) in the Roman Legends Classic in Uncasville, Conn. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the St. John’s-BYU college basketball betting odds and lines, with picks and predictions.
St. John’s vs. BYU: Betting odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 12:40 p.m. ET.
- Money line: St. John’s -106 (bet $106 to win $100) | BYU -115 (bet $115 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: St. John’s +1.5 (-115) | BYU -1.5 (-106)
- Over/Under: 152.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
St. John’s vs. BYU: Three things to know
- St. John’s nearly squandered a 20-point lead but held on to beat Boston College 97-93 Monday. F Julian Champagnie led St. John’s in points (29) and rebounds (10) in his season debut. The Red Storm covered as 1.5-point underdogs.
- BYU got rolled by USC 79-53 yesterday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Cougars opened as slight dogs but were bet up to 3.5-point favorites by tip-off. USC out-rebounded BYU 50-35 and held them to 27.5% field-goal shooting and 23.3% from deep.
- BYU is filling in on late notice for the Texas Tech Red Raiders who had to pull out of this game because of COVID-19 concerns. This is the first time these programs have played since 1990 and St. John’s is leading the all-time series 7-1.
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St. John’s vs. BYU: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
St. John’s 77, BYU 72
Money line (ML)
It’s the second year for St. John’s in the post-Chris Mullin era (2015/16-2018/19) and head coach Mike Anderson is now in charge of the program. Anderson has St. John’s playing insanely aggressively and it could be jarring for a BYU team that faced zero pressure in its first three games before getting boat raced by USC Tuesday.
St. John’s is third in adjusted tempo and 14th in steal percentage as a team. The Johnnies are going to use their athletes to press the action. This could cause a big issue for a BYU team 176th in turnover percentage.
Also, it’s hard to expect BYU to take advantage of an aggressive St. John’s defense since the Cougars rank 247th in free-throw shooting, which is part of the reason they rank 203rd in free-throw attempts per field-goal attempts.
GIMME ST. JOHN’S (-106) for 1.5 units.
Against the spread (ATS)
PASS ON THE SPREAD for me. You could take St. John’s +1.5 (-115) but I’d prefer to get my St. John’s-BYU action on the money line.
Over/Under (O/U)
I usually like to fade the market in primetime college hoops, college football and anything NFL because they are hit harder with public money.
However, the public isn’t champing at the bit to bet St. John’s-BYU at 5 p.m. ET on a Wednesday. Especially with the NFL having a rare Wednesday game.
So when I go to Pregame.com and see 94% of the money wagered is on the Under, I’m definitely leaning toward the supposed sharp money. The market has bet the total down from a 155 opener. It might be a little late but I do think this matchup suits an Under nicely.
I lean UNDER 152.5 (-110) for a half-unit.
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