St. John’s vs. Xavier NCAA Basketball Betting Analysis and Free Pick (Archive)
Still aiming for a top 5 finish in the Big East race, the Xavier Musketeers have a solid chance on Wednesday’s NCAA basketball betting card when they host the St. John’s Red Storm. Here is all you need to know for your best bets.
St. John’s Red Storm vs. Xavier Musketeers
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 – 06:30 PM EST at Cintas Center
Xavier still has a very strong chance to grab a top 5 seed for the Big East Tournament – and the bye into the quarterfinals that goes with it – as it prepares for this Hump Day collision with St. John’s. Recent struggles sent the Musketeers tumbling out of the AP poll this week, and they head into Wednesday sixth in the league standings and 24th in the Ken Pomeroy ratings.
Projected by the preseason NCAA basketball futures to be in the running for a top 5 standing in the league, it has instead been a disappointing showing for St. John’s. The Red Storm are ninth in the Big East and need to almost win out plus get a lot of help to achieve a fifth-place finish now.
Johnnies’ Point Man Questionable for Matchup
One of the early games on the Wednesday slate, CBS Sports Network provides the broadcast and most of the best online sportsbooks are carrying Xavier as an 8-point favorite. College hoops bettors wishing to play the scoreboard have a decision to make on a 148½-point total.
Maybe it’s a good thing Mike Anderson and his Red Storm are on the road instead of at home. Most teams like it the other way around, but St. John’s has enjoyed more success away from the Big Apple recently than in its own arena. The Red Storm have won three of their last four Big East roadies, covering the last two, and lost their last four home tilts.
They dropped both games at home last week to a pair of ranked teams, though the Red Storm did manage to cover the college basketball odds in the losses to Villanova and Connecticut. St. John’s dug too deep of a hole against the Wildcats to climb out of and let a golden opportunity against the Huskies slip away with a late 5-minute scoring drought.
Posh Alexander missed both games with an ankle injury and is officially listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game against Xavier. The sophomore guard is second on the team in scoring (14.9 ppg) and top 30 in the country dishing 5.2 assists per game.
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Travis Steele and the Musketeers got some good news on the injury front Tuesday when Adam Kunkel returned to practice after sitting out last Friday’s win over UConn due to illness. A key player off the bench for Steele, Kunkel is sixth on the team in scoring and second on the squad in made 3-pointers.
Nate Johnson, second on the team averaging 9.8 PPG, will be a game-time decision due to a sore knee. The 6'4 senior has started all 24 games for Xavier this season and made a crucial 3-pointer at the end of the first half in last Friday’s win over the Huskies that gave the Musketeers the lead going into the locker room.
Xavier never relinquished the lead after that, and made good as 1-point home chalk with the 74-68 triumph. The victory stopped a short 2-game skid for the Musketeers, and the final marked their third ‘over’ in the last four games.
Favorite Has Won, Covered Last 3
St. John’s and Xavier are meeting for the first time this season, with the second matchup of the season just two weeks away when the Musketeers travel to Queens. The programs are meeting for the 19th time, all but one of those contests coming since Xavier joined the Big East in 2013. They split their two games last season by each grabbing home wins and covers at top-rated sportsbooks.
Tied with a little more than seven minutes left in the game at Cintas Center 13 months ago, Xavier pulled away in the final minutes for a 69-61 decision as 6½-point home chalk. The final stayed well below a 155-point total, the third ‘under’ among the last four matchups in Cincinnati. It was also the 12th-straight win in the rivalry for the Musketeers, that streak halted about seven weeks later when St. John’s won as small chalk in its home floor.
There really isn’t any question that Xavier is the better team here. But are the Musketeers really 8-points better, even with the home crowd behind them? I don’t think so, and will go with a free college basketball pick on the Red Storm.
NCAAB Pick: St. John’s +8 (-108) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports 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.