Providence vs St. John’s 1/8/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The St. John’s Red Storm and the Providence Friars meet Saturday in college basketball action from Dunkin’ Donuts Center. St. John’s enters this one at 9-3 so far. the Red Storm beat DePaul in their last game. As for Providence, they’re 13-2 and coming off a loss to Marquette. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

St. John’s went 5-2 over their first seven games, falling to Indiana and Kansas during that stretch. Since then it’s been a 4-1 run for the Red Storm featuring wins over Fordham, Monmouth, Colgate and DePaul. 

In the DePaul game, the Red Storm scored 39 points in the first half and 50 more from there in an 89-84 victory. Leading scorer Julian Champagnie put up 34 points with 16 reboudns, and Dylan Addae-Wusu added 17 points with eight assists. 

Over on the Providence side, they won their first five games this year before a November 23 loss to Virginia. The Friars then beat Saint Peter’s, Texas Tech, Rhode Island, Vermont, Central CT State, UConn, Seton Hall and DePaul before the Marquette loss. 

Matched up against Marquette on Tuesday, Providence was outscored 42-22 in the first half alone on the way to an 88-56 blowout loss. Aljami Durham put up 16 points to lead the team, and Ed Croswell added 11 points with seven boards. 

The Friars are 5-1 ATS in their last six at home and 7-2 ATS in their last nine overall. Providence is 6-1 ATS in the last seven Saturday games. 

Meanwhile, the Storm are 5-2 ATS in the last seven road games and 1-8 ATS in their last nine overall. St. John’s is 1-6 ATS in their last seven after an ATS loss. 

PICK: I’m going to try Providence in this one. The Friars really need to bounce back after a poor showing versus Marquette, though. Providence put up a flimsy 32.8 percent shooting from the field in that one with 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) made from 3-point range. The Friars aren’t the heaviest-scoring team this year, but that performance was certainly uncharacteristic. 

As for St. John’s, I like them to keep the pace most of the way here; it should be a pretty fun and competitive game. I like Providence to get it together and cover, though.