St. John’s will be looking for revenge on the road. The NCAAB odds have the line anywhere from Seton Hall -7 to -8, so the sportsbooks expect another win for the Pirates. Will Seton Hall cover the lofty spread at home? Here are keys for each team and the best pick for this Monday’s matchup.
Monday, January 24, 2022 – 9:00 PM EST at Walsh Gymnasium
The Big East isn’t as dominant as it used to be, but it remains a competitive conference. Despite having losing records, both Seton Hall and St. John’s have talent on their roster with the potential to turn things around late in the regular season.
These teams faced off on Saturday, and Seton Hall got a six-point win on the road to snap a two-game losing streak. St. John’s will only have to wait two days for a shot at avenging that loss.
Teams rarely play each other back-to-back, so there won’t be much time for the Red Storm to improve. However, they should know what to expect from Seton Hall, and they’ll be comfortable defending them.
All season, Seton Hall’s offense has been led by Bryce Aiken and Jared Rhoden. Aiken missed the last game with a concussion, and he’s expected to miss the Monday game as well. That puts more pressure on Rhoden to be the dominant force in Seton Hall’s offense.
Rhoden was ineffective in the last matchup between these teams. He only scored six points before fouling out. Thankfully, his teammates stepped up in his absence. You can’t expect them to light up the floor again, though. Rhoden needs at least 15 points with normal shooting for the Pirates to cover.
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Seton Hall had a -8 turnover margin in the last game. They can’t expect another win with that type of discrepancy with turnovers. The Pirates need to make better choices with the ball. They were ineffective shooting, but more shots can turn that around. You can’t get those shots up if you keep turning the ball over.
Seton Hall made plenty of correctable mistakes on the road. If they clean up the errors, they could win this game handily. Still, both teams have a chance to win this game.
The bad news for St. John’s is that so many things went right for them in the home game, but they still lost. They only had nine turnovers. No one fouled out, and only two players had at least three fouls. The perimeter defense was effective, and the home crowd was in their favor.
They can’t expect that much success on the road, but they’ll need to see at least some success in these departments. Even if they have a few more turnovers, they need to win the turnover battle if they want to win. They also need similar success on the perimeter when they are defending.
The one place St. John’s must improve is on the boards. They gave up 20 offensive rebounds the last time these teams played, and that is unacceptable. You won’t win a game as an underdog with that many second-chance opportunities.
Offensively, St. John’s needs to attack the rim more. This will give them more chances at easy buckets in the paint. If they don’t score, they can still get fouled or kick the ball out for an open shot when it’s available. Winning from the inside out is a great way to remain disciplined offensively.
Seton Hall won by six just two days ago, and that game was on the road. They struggled from three and had their leading scorer for the year foul out. Too much went wrong in a six-point win to expect a loss here. Now that they are at home, they should be able to correct the mistakes made two days ago.
The moneyline has some value, but the real value is with the spread. For my college basketball pick, I’m taking Seton Hall to cover. If Rhoden can step up as the key scorer, the Pirates should win back-to-back games against the Red Storm.
NCAAB Pick: Seton Hall -7 (-110) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.