The St. John's Red Storm will plan to wreak havoc on the road as they travel to Milwaukee to take on the seventh-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles. Let's check out our College Basketball odds series where our St. John's-Marquette prediction and pick will be revealed.
Entering play with a 14-9 record and a dead-even 6-6 mark in conference play, the last time the Red Storm were on a basketball court resulted in a 28-point beatdown over the lowly DePaul Blue Demons. Overall, the win was the first in over two tries for the Red Storm who are desperately trying to stay alive in the March Madness race. As it stands, St. John's certainly has some work to do as they currently occupy the eighth-place spot in the Big East Conference.
On the other side of things, Marquette is looking to avenge themselves in 2023-2024 after failing to meet their standards in last year's NCAA Tournament. So far, the Golden Eagles have impressed mightily as they have jumped out to a 17-5 start and are in a solid position within the conference standings. Trailing the defending champion UConn Huskies by 2.5 games for first place, the Golden Eagles are on an absolute roll of late with six consecutive wins.
Here are the college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: St. John's-Marquette Odds
St. John's: +8.5 (-110)
Moneyline: +300
Marquette: -8.5 (-110)
Moneyline: -385
Over: 151.5 (-110)
Under: 151.5 (-110)
How to Watch St. John's vs. Marquette
Time: 6:00 ET/3:00 PT
TV: FS1
Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)
Why St. John's Will Cover The Spread/Win
If St. John's going to pull off the shocking upset, then they will need all hands on deck. Although St. John's is only 5-5 in their last ten games when covering the spread, the main thing that they've got going for them is on the offensive side of the basketball that has become no strangers in putting up points on the scoreboard. With that being said, earning stellar performances on the hardwood from guys like leading scorer Joel Soriano will prove to be absolutely vital.
On paper, St. John's is putting up 77 points per game and are most recently coming off an 85-point outing in the win over DePaul. In that victorious triumph, the Red Storm burned the Blue Demons for a whopping 15 three-pointers. At the end of the day, St. John's will need to come out ballistic from way downtown if they have any plans of covering the spread and ultimately winning the contest.
Above all else, it will prove to be an absolute must for the Red Storm to take care of the basketball and avoid being careless. When taking a look at the bigger picture, St. John's on average commits 11.3 turnovers per game which is only the 159th best mark in college basketball. Indeed, St. John's did a splendid job of not shooting themselves in the foot against DePaul as they committed only nine turnovers on the night.
Why Marquette Will Cover The Spread/Win
Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles are soaring and flying higher than they have all season long.
Clearly, a big reason for their success has been in the form of a high-octane offense. Obviously, Marquette will have to be willing to give St. John's a taste of their own medicine when having possession of the basketball. Similarly to the Red Storm, it is the Golden Eagles that love making it rain from deep.
In dominating fashion, Marquette knocks down 8.8 threes on average from beyond the arc which ranks as the 57th-best mark in all of the land. Not to mention, but the Golden Eagles excel at maximizing every single offensive possession. In fact, Marquette scores more points than the amount of possessions they tally on average. Simply put, when Marquette's offense is clicking on all cylinders on a consistent basis, they are extremely difficult to overcome by the time the clock hits triple zeroes.
All in all, the one area of concern for the Golden Eagles is in the form of their ability to rebound. Shockingly, Marquette often lacks size down low which leads to the opposition having their way on the glass more often than not. Looking at the raw numbers, the Golden Eagles only haul in 33 rebounds per game which puts them as the 303rd best rebounding team in the nation. As the regular season continues to march on into its final stages, Marquette is well aware that this is a facet of the game where they must improve drastically in.
Final St. John's-Marquette Prediction & Pick
Don't be shocked if these high-flying offenses turn this game into an intense shootout. Even though St. John's will have plenty of good looks offensively, the overall dominance that Marquette possesses at home along with their humming ability to put up points themselves will ultimately be the difference.
Click here for more betting news and predictions
Final St. John's-Marquette Prediction & Pick: Marquette -8.5 (-110)
Follow Us
Subscribe