The Butler Bulldogs and the St. John’s Red Storm meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Carnesecca Arena. Butler enters this matchup at 10-7 overall. The Bulldogs took a loss to Seton Hall in their last game. As for St. John’s, they’re 11-6 on the season and coming off a loss to Providence on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Butler managed a 7-3 run over their first 10 games this year, losing to only Penn State, Tennessee and NC State. The Bulldogs are 3-4 since then with losses to UConn, Creighton, Providence and Seton Hall.
Matched up against Seton Hall on Saturday, the Bulldogs were drilled 41-23 in the first half. Butler was outscored 35-28 in the second and limped to a 76-51 blowout loss. Jayden Taylor was the top team scorer on 14 points with five boards.
Over on the St. John’s side, they posted a nice 8-0 run to start the year, then fell to Iowa State on December 4. The Storm would then win three straight before falling to Villanova, Xavier, Seton Hall, Marquette and Providence.
In the Providence game Saturday, the Red Storm took a 40-39 edge into the break. St. John’s was outscored 44-40 in the second half and lost 83-80. Joel Soriano was the lead team scorer, doubling up on 16 points and 10 boards.
PICK: I’m going to try St. John’s here. The Red Storm have had a run of bad luck in their last five games, losing to some pretty good teams during that stretch. The good news is that St. John’s is still scoring pretty well; they’ve hit 79 or more points in three of the five games. Trouble is, they’ve given up 78 or more in all five as well. As for the Bulldogs, they’ve hit 78 or more points in two of their last three, so they’re capable of putting up nice offensive outings in comparable matchups. This should be a pretty fun and competitive game overall. It’ll certainly be an interesting matchup.