The St. John’s Red Storm (14-9, 8-8 Big East) visit the No. 6 Villanova Wildcats (14-3, 9-2) Tuesday in a Big East showdown at Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the St. John’s-Villanova odds and lines, with NCAA college basketball picks and predictions.
Ratings courtesy of Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports.
St. John’s at Villanova: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 1:55 p.m. ET.
- Money line: St. John’s +525 (bet $100 to win $525) | Villanova -750 (bet $750 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: St. John’s +11.5 (-110) | Villanova -11.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 152.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
St. John’s at Villanova: Three things to know
- The Johnnies dropped a pivotal game for their NCAA Tournament chances by losing 88-83 to DePaul as 11-point home favorites. St. John’s, who was making an NCAA tourney push, has now lost two of its last three following a six-game winning streak, which included a win over then-No. 3 Villanova.
- The Wildcats bounced back with a 68-60 win over UConn as 8-point home favorites after getting blown out 86-70 at then-No.17 Creighton Feb. 13. Villanova is 3-2 overall in its previous five games and just 1-3-1 ATS.
- St. John’s legitimately dominated Villanova Feb. 3 waxing them 70-59 as 9-point home underdogs. The Red Storm’s defense held the Wildcats to a season-low in points and field-goal shooting and forced a season-high 15 turnovers.
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St. John’s at Villanova: Odds, lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
St. John’s 81, Villanova 76
Money line (ML)
Slight lean on ST. JOHN’S (+525) since it rolled Villanova the first time around and is 3-3 overall in the past six meetings. However, I’d only put a tiny wager if anything on the Johnnies to steal this win as the cover is the preferred betting option.
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Against the spread (ATS)
BET ST. JOHN’S +11.5 (-110) much heavier or instead of the Johnnies’ money line. The St. John’s-Villanova market seems to be robotically backing the favorite since the Wildcats are a national powerhouse that regularly dominates the Big East.
But, the Red Storm play an aggressive, high ball-pressure style of defense that sped Villanova’s offense up and forced turnovers. Probable Big East Freshman of the Year, St. John’s PG Posh Alexander, leads the conference in steals per game and wreaked havoc in Villanova’s backcourt last game.
Also, the Johnnies have the best player on the floor in conference leading-scorer and a favorite for Big East Player of the Year, wing Julian Champagnie.
He didn’t score the ball as well as he hoped in the last St. John’s-Villanova game, but Champagnie was a difference-maker in the contest and led the Red Storm with 13 rebounds with a game-high three blocks.
With the Johnnies’ tournament hopes on the line, expect a gutsy performance out of the Red Storm today. TAKE ST. JOHN’S +11.5 (-110) for 1.25 units.
Over/Under (O/U)
PASS with a lean on Over 152.5 (-110) because my expectation is that Villanova executes far better offensively than in its first game vs. St. John’s. On the other hand, the market is betting Over yet the total has been brought down from the 155.5-point opener, according to Pregame.com. This tells me the House wants bettors to back the Over. STAY AWAY.
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