The St. John’s Red Storm and the DePaul Blue Demons meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Wintrust Arena. St. John’s is sitting on a 15-11 record so far. The Storm beat Providence in their last game. As for DePaul, they’re 9-16 on the season and coming off a loss to Villanova. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. John’s Red Storm
St. John’s managed a pretty solid 12-6 opening this year across their first 18 games. The Storm are 3-5 since then, losing to Villanova, Creighton, Seton Hall, Xavier and Butler with wins over UConn, Georgetown and Providence in that time.
On Saturday versus Providence, the Storm took a 37-35 edge into the break. St. John’s hit a 36-33 halftime advantage and took the win 73-68. Leading the scoring was David Jones with 16 points, and Joel Soriano doubled on 10 points and 13 rebounds.
DePaul Blue Demons
Over on the DePaul side, they managed an 8-10 run over their first 18 games of the season. The Blue Demons have since gone 1-6 with losses to Providence, Georgetown, Marquette, UConn, Seton Hall and Villanova in that time.
Back on Wednesday versus Villanova, DePaul was within three points going into the second half. The Blue Demons were outscored 44-31 from there and lost 81-65. Both Javan Johnson and Umoja Gibson scored a team-high 18 points each.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to stay with St. John’s. The Red Storm are coming off a nice win over Providence, shooting 44.3 percent from the floor with 15-of-18 from the line. The victory stopped a three-game losing skid, but St. John’s is still scoring well even in their losses. The Storm have hit 71 or more options in five of their last six games. These teams last met way back on December 7 in an 86-67 St. John’s victory at Carnesecca Arena. The Blue Demons should be a little more competitive at home but I don’t think they’ll ultimately cover/win.